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Cadmium mercury selenide (CdHgSe) nanocrystals exhibit a unique combination of low‐energy optical absorption and emission, which can be tuned from the visible to the infrared range through both quantum confinement and adjustment of their composition. Owing to this advantage, such nanocrystals have been studied as a promising narrow‐band infrared light emitter. However, the electroluminescence of CdHgSe‐based nanocrystals has remained largely unexplored, despite their potential for emitting light in the telecom wavelength range. Further benefits to their optical properties are expected from their shape control, in particular the formation of 2D nanocrystals, as well as from a proper design of their heterostructures. In this work, a colloidal synthesis of CdHgSe/ZnCdS core/shell nanoplatelets (NPLs) starting from CdSe template NPLs employing a cation exchange strategy is developed. The heterostructures synthesized exhibit photoluminescence that can be tuned from ≈1300 to 1500 nm. These near‐infrared‐active NPLs are employed in light‐emitting diodes, demonstrating low turn‐on voltage and high external quantum efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We propose to use the self-assembly ability of a block copolymer to obtain CdSe quantum dots (QDs) structures of different morphology. The methodology proposed consist in transferring mixed Langmuir monolayers of QDs and the polymer poly (styrene-co-maleic anhydride) partial 2 buthoxy ethyl ester cumene terminated, PS-MA-BEE onto mica by the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) methodology. The morphology of the LB films was analyzed by AFM and TEM measurements. Our results show that it is possible to modulate the self-assembly process by modifying the composition of the mixed Langmuir monolayer precursor of the LB film. The different morphologies are interpreted according to two different dewetting mechanisms, growth of holes and spinodal-like dewetting. The growth of holes dewetting process is driven by gravitatory effects and was observed for LB films obtained by transferring Langmuir monolayer of the smallest elasticity values in which the polymer is in brush conformation. The spinodal dewetting mechanism prevailed when the Langmuir monolayer presents the highest elasticity values. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We developed a three-step colloidal synthesis of near-infrared (NIR) active Cu-In-Se (CISe)-based nanocrystals (NCs) via a sequential partial cation exchange realized in one pot. In the first step, binary highly copper deficient Cu2-xSe NCs were synthesized, followed by a partial cation exchange of copper to indium ions, yielding CISe NCs. This reaction allows for a precise control of the composition of the resulting NCs through a simple variation of the ratio between guest-cation precursors and parent NCs. To enhance the stability and the photoluminescence (PL) properties of the NCs, a subsequent ZnS shell was grown in the third step, resulting in CISeS/ZnS core/shell particles. These core/shell hetero-NCs exhibited a dramatic increase in size and a restructuring to trigonal pyramidal shape. The shell growth performed at a relatively high temperature (250 °C) also led to anion exchange, in which sulfur replaced part of selenium atoms close to the surface of the NCs, forming alloyed CISeS core structure. This efficient anion exchange is rarely reported for I-III-VI-based nanomaterials. Furthermore, we demonstrated that at higher reaction temperature, it is possible to obtain In-rich CISeS/ZnS NCs whose emission was shifted to the visible region. Therefore, a careful tuning of the reaction parameters, such as the Cu:Se and Cu:In ratios, temperature, and time, enables a distinct control over the size and composition of the NCs while maintaining their crystal structure. By varying the size of the CISeS/ZnS NCs from 9 to 18 nm, the PL spectra could be tuned, covering a wide NIR range with maxima from 990 to 1210 nm. Thus, in these experiments, we demonstrated a clear dependence of the optical properties of these materials on their size and extended the PL range of CISe-based NCs further to the infrared part of the spectrum. The results obtained might be important not only to elucidation of fundamentals of ion exchange reactions but also may provide a general preparative approach to a wide variety of copper chalcogenide-based NCs with well-controlled size, shape, composition, and even crystal structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]