| Semiconducting nanoscale metal chaicogenides are an important class of materials used in optoelectronics, photovoltaics, and thermoelectric applications. The properties of nanomaterials are directly influenced by their size and shape. Because of this a great deal of research has been focused on the size-controllable synthesis of these materials. Metal chalcogenide nanomaterial:; have been synthesized using solvothermal, sonochemical, pyrolysis, and microwave heating methods, which require high temperature and pressure. Furthermore, the reactants, solvents, and reaction conditions are highly specific for each method as well as the desired nanomaterial.;We have developed a unique photochemical method for the generalized synthesis of metal chalcogenide nanomateri GIs. The photolysis is conducted at 20° C, which is substantially lower than current solution based methods. Furthermore, the low temperature allows conventional solvents to be used. We have synthesized Culn2, InS, SbSe, and E2S3 (where E = Sb and Bi) nanopz,rticles with sizes ranging from 5 - 100 nm by photolysis of photoreactive single source precursors (SSPs). The SSPs are designed to photochemically decompose to yield the desired material with the proper stoichiometry. Our SSPs contain photoactive benzyl-X ligands (where X = S or Se), which are known to undergo bond homolysis at the benzyl-X bond. The results indicate that the reactions proceed by bond homolysis to produce reactive radicals species that self-assemble to yield the desired nanomaterials. Furthermore, we have used the same photochemical method as a route to functiorialize a Si surface with bismuth sulfide. We have also investigated the photochemistry of Ph2PBn (where Bn = CH2Ph). Upon photolysis, the P-Bn bond cleaves and yields tetraphenyl diphosphine (Ph4P2) and bibenzyl (PhCH2CH2Ph). These results support the observations made during the photochemical metal chalcogenide nanomaterials synthesis. |
