For nearly twenty years colloidal preparations of semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have relied upon tertiary phosphine chalcogenide anion sources.  However, the synthesis requires high growth temperatures (~ 300 �C) and suffers from very low conversion yields (<2%) and well documented batch-to-batch irreproducibilities.  Conversely, we have utilized pure secondary phosphine chalcogenide anion sources and found that QD conversion yields are nearly quantitative for both II-VI (CdSe, CdS) and IV-VI(PbS,PbSe) QDs while maintaining high photoluminsecent quantum yields.  Further, we have optimized growth procedures to controllably tune QD size from magic-sized clusters to tens of nanometers while preserving narrow size distributions.  Improvements to the synthesis of QDs is expected to substantially decrease their cost and therefore allow for wider application in commercial devices.

Quantitative and size-tunable quantum growth using sec-phosphine chalcogenide anion sources

240th National Meeting (2010)

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