Publication
Title
Nanocrystals of lead chalcohalides : a series of kinetically trapped metastable nanostructures
Author
Abstract
We report the colloidal synthesis of a series of surfactant-stabilized lead chalcohalide nanocrystals. Our work is mainly focused on Pb4S3Br2, a chalcohalide phase unknown to date that does not belong to the ambient-pressure PbS-PbBr2 phase diagram. The Pb4S3Br2 nanocrystals herein feature a remarkably narrow size distribution (with a size dispersion as low as 5%), a good size tunability (from 7 to similar to 30 nm), an indirect bandgap, photoconductivity (responsivity = 4 +/- 1 mA/W), and stability for months in air. A crystal structure is proposed for this new material by combining the information from 3D electron diffraction and electron tomography of a single nanocrystal, X-ray powder diffraction, and density functional theory calculations. Such a structure is closely related to that of the recently discovered high-pressure chalcohalide Pb4S3I2 phase, and indeed we were able to extend our synthesis scheme to Pb4S3I2 colloidal nanocrystals, whose structure matches the one that has been published for the bulk. Finally, we could also prepare nanocrystals of Pb3S2Cl2, which proved to be a structural analogue of the recently reported bulk Pb3Se2Br2 phase. It is remarkable that one high-pressure structure (for Pb4S3I2) and two metastable structures that had not yet been reported (for Pb4S3Br2 and Pb3S2Cl2) can be prepared on the nanoscale by wet-chemical approaches. This highlights the important role of colloidal chemistry in the discovery of new materials and motivates further exploration into metal chalcohalide nanocrystals.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Journal of the American Chemical Society. - Washington, D.C., 1879, currens
Publication
Washington, D.C. : American Chemical Society , 2020
ISSN
0002-7863
DOI
10.1021/JACS.0C03577
Volume/pages
142 :22 (2020) , p. 10198-10211
ISI
000538526500035
Pubmed ID
32374173
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
COMPASS: Colloidal Nanomaterials for Smart Applications
3D Structure of nanomaterials under realistic conditions (REALNANO).
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 17.07.2020
Last edited 02.01.2025
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