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Shape control of CdSe nanocrystals

Nature volume 404, pages 59–61 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Nanometre-size inorganic dots, tubes and wires exhibit a wide range of electrical and optical properties1,2 that depend sensitively on both size and shape3,4, and are of both fundamental and technological interest. In contrast to the syntheses of zero-dimensional systems, existing preparations of one-dimensional systems often yield networks of tubes or rods which are difficult to separate5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. And, in the case of optically active II–VI and III–V semiconductors, the resulting rod diameters are too large to exhibit quantum confinement effects6,8,9,10. Thus, except for some metal nanocrystals13, there are no methods of preparation that yield soluble and monodisperse particles that are quantum-confined in two of their dimensions. For semiconductors, a benchmark preparation is the growth of nearly spherical II–VI and III–V nanocrystals by injection of precursor molecules into a hot surfactant14,15. Here we demonstrate that control of the growth kinetics of the II–VI semiconductor cadmium selenide can be used to vary the shapes of the resulting particles from a nearly spherical morphology to a rod-like one, with aspect ratios as large as ten to one. This method should be useful, not only for testing theories of quantum confinement, but also for obtaining particles with spectroscopic properties that could prove advantageous in biological labelling experiments16,17 and as chromophores in light-emitting diodes18,19.

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Figure 1: TEM images of different samples of quantum rods.
Figure 2: X-ray diffraction patterns of two CdSe rod-shaped nanocrystals.
Figure 3
Figure 4: Optical spectra and emission polarization of CdSe quantum dots and rods.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US Department of Energy and by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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Author notes

  1. Xiaogang Peng

    Present address: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 727033, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of California at Berkeley,

    Xiaogang Peng, Liberato Manna, Weidong Yang, Juanita Wickham, Erik Scher, Andreas Kadavanich & A. P. Alivisatos

  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Xiaogang Peng, Liberato Manna, Weidong Yang, Juanita Wickham, Erik Scher, Andreas Kadavanich & A. P. Alivisatos

  3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 727033, USA

    Liberato Manna, Weidong Yang, Juanita Wickham, Erik Scher, Andreas Kadavanich & A. P. Alivisatos

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Peng, X., Manna, L., Yang, W. et al. Shape control of CdSe nanocrystals. Nature 404, 59–61 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35003535

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