III-V semiconductors form a major class of materials for optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices. Colloidal synthesis of III-V nanocrystals has made significant progress in recent years, especially for InP NCs. However other III-V materials remain largely under-explored. One of the major reasons that limits the development of efficient synthetic protocols, specifically for arsenide based semiconductor nanocrystals like InAs and GaAs, is the unavailability of suitable precursors. We report on the development of new synthetic strategies for colloidal InAs and GaAs nanocrystals. A reducing agent mediated approach, starting with commercial precursors, produces state-of-the-art InAs nanocrystals in a large size range with size dependent excitonic features and band-edge photoluminesce. For the case of GaAs nanocrystals, their anomalous optical properties are explored in detail and understood through detailed structural characterization. This work sheds light on the role of structural defects in determining the optical properties of covalent semiconductors like GaAs. We proposed novel molten salt based approaches to alleviate these structural defects and show the effect of quantum confinemnent in GaAs crystals.

Colloidal III-V nanocrystals: Syntheses, challenges and opportunities

254th National Meeting (2017)

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