InPlane · Colloidal two-dimensional InP nanocrystals
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-04-01 → 2023-03-31
- EU contribution
- €162,806
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Colloidal two-dimensional InP nanocrystals
Semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) have become the most important material for colloidal nanophotonics – a rapidly advancing research field, which evolves into a powerful technological platform for lighting, biomedicine, lasing, photovoltaics, etc. This is evidenced by a steadily growing number of companies and start-ups producing and/or using NC-based materials (Nanosys, QD Vision, UbiQD, UbiGro etc.) and has led to the appearance of the consumer products – displays from Sony, TCL, and Samsung. By some estimates, such displays have higher luminance and are 25 % more efficient than organic LEDs, and by 2025 60 % of TVs and 50 % of monitors may include NC-based materials. However, most of the success was achieved with the NCs composed of cadmium chalcogenides, which became a severe obstacle with the tightening of restrictions on the use of toxic materials in consumer products. This highlighted the need and stimulated the research and development of new materials meeting the criteria of environmental regulations as well as satisfying the requirements of the industry. Among the alternatives, NCs comprised of III-V semiconductors stand out not only due to their relatively benign nature but also due to expected higher robustness because of the high covalency of the crystalline structure, a broad range of bandgaps spanning from ultraviolet to deep-infrared regions, efficient light absorption, and high mobility of charge carriers. Although the first syntheses of such NCs were reported at around the same time as II-VI and IV-VI ones, the state-of-the-art III-V nanomaterials are still noticeably inferior to their Cd- and Pb-chalcogenide-based counterparts. To tackle this issue, several problems need to be addressed, including broadening the range of synthetic precursors, designing new synthetic strategies, elucidation of NC formation mechanisms, and investigation of surface chemistry of NCs for controlling their shape, electronic and optical properties as well as tailoring III-V nanoparticles for applications. The main objective of this Marie Skłodowska-Curie action is the implementation of an innovative approach to address several of these points by focusing on the design of synthetic procedures and the investigation of the new type of NCs – colloidal two-dimensional indium phosphide NCs – that may become new nontoxic material for LEDs and displays with superior efficiency, optical characteristics, and simple device structure.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) attract immense interest both from the scientific community and industrial companies/startups, due to their unique optical properties that are tunable in a wide range through changing their composition, size, shape, etc. However, currently, the implementation of the well-developed NCs in consumer products is hindered by the presence of toxic cadmium and the development of “Cd-free” NCs, investigation and optimization of their properties are important challenges in the field. Among the most promising “Cd-free” alternatives are indium phosphide (InP) NCs but despite all advances in their synthesis, there is still a need to achieve narrow fluorescence of such NCs – a parameter crucial for their applications in light-emitting devices (e.g. in displays).In this project, we propose a novel approach to solve this issue, which consists in the chemical synthesis of two-dimensional InP nanoplatelets (NPls). To achieve this, two strategies will be examined: recrystallization of small InP NCs and cation exchange. The research of the first strategy will involve studying precursor reactivity, searching for a suitable promoter of anisotropic growth, and on the optimization of the reaction conditions. The cation exchange strategy will focus on the investigation of the incorporation of indium ions into the pre-synthesized Cu3-xP NPls to achieve complete cation exchange. In the next stages, further work will concentrate on the optimization of obtained NPls for practical applications through achieving spectral tunability by alloying and through maximizing photoluminescence quantum yield and stability by covering InP NPls with a wide bandgap shell. Additionally, to demonstrate the application potential of the prepared NPls and related heterostructures the extensive characterization of chemical and physical properties of InP NPls will be conducted with the specific focus on the properties relevant for light-emitting applications.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDEN · DresdenCoordinatorGermany
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union