Size Dependence of Doping by a Vacancy Formation Reaction in Copper Sulfide Nanocrystals

Orian Elimelech, Jing Liu, Anna M. Plonka, Anatoly I. Frenkel*, Uri Banin

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Doping of nanocrystals (NCs) is a key, yet underexplored, approach for tuning of the electronic properties of semiconductors. An important route for doping of NCs is by vacancy formation. The size and concentration dependence of doping was studied in copper(I) sulfide (Cu2S) NCs through a redox reaction with iodine molecules (I2), which formed vacancies accompanied by a localized surface plasmon response. X-ray spectroscopy and diffraction reveal transformation from Cu2S to Cu-depleted phases, along with CuI formation. Greater reaction efficiency was observed for larger NCs. This behavior is attributed to interplay of the vacancy formation energy, which decreases for smaller sized NCs, and the growth of CuI on the NC surface, which is favored on well-defined facets of larger NCs. This doping process allows tuning of the plasmonic properties of a semiconductor across a wide range of plasmonic frequencies by varying the size of NCs and the concentration of iodine. Controlled vacancy doping of NCs may be used to tune and tailor semiconductors for use in optoelectronic applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10335-10340
Number of pages6
JournalAngewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume56
Issue number35
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Aug 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Keywords

  • copper sulfide nanocrystals
  • doping
  • surface plasmon resonance
  • vacancies

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