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Physics and Chemistry of Colloidal Semiconductor Nanocrystals

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Book cover Solar Cells Based on Colloidal Nanocrystals

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Materials Science ((SSMATERIALS,volume 196))

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Abstract

Nanocrystals with spatial dimensions in the range of a few nanometers are small crystallites consisting of only a few hundreds to thousands of atoms. The size of the crystals being strongly limited, nanocrystalline materials possess physical and chemical properties which can differ significantly from those of the corresponding bulk material. Thus, by reducing the particle size, it becomes possible to manipulate certain material properties. A prominent example is the so-called quantum size effect which causes an increase of the band gap of semiconductors with decreasing particle size. From the opportunity to tune material properties by controlling the spatial dimensions arises a large variety of potential applications of nanocrystalline materials. One efficient concept to fabricate nanocrystals with well-defined size and shape is colloidal chemistry. In colloidal chemistry, organic ligand molecules are used which bind to the surface of the nanoparticles during synthesis. These ligands have a variety of functions and enable obtaining nanocrystals with defined structural properties. The aim of this chapter is to give an overview over the physics and chemistry of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals. Basic principles of colloidal synthesis will be outlined, a brief overview of size-dependent material properties will be given and selected properties such as the quantum size effect will be treated in more detail.

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  1. Department of Physics, Carl-von-Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

    Holger Borchert

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Borchert, H. (2014). Physics and Chemistry of Colloidal Semiconductor Nanocrystals. In: Solar Cells Based on Colloidal Nanocrystals. Springer Series in Materials Science, vol 196. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04388-3_2

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