Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Leibniz Inst. of Surface Engineering (IOM), Leipzig (Germany)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Leibniz Inst. of Surface Engineering (IOM), Leipzig (Germany)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Foundry
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
The size and shape of semiconductor nanocrystals govern their optical and electronic properties. Liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (LCTEM) is an emerging tool that can directly visualize nanoscale chemical transformations and therefore inform the precise synthesis of nanostructures with desired functions. However, it remains difficult to controllably investigate the reactions of semiconductor nanocrystals with LCTEM, because of the highly reactive environment formed by radiolysis of liquid. Here, we harness the radiolysis processes and report the single-particle etching trajectories of prototypical semiconductor nanomaterials with well-defined crystalline facets. Lead selenide nanocubes represent an isotropic structure that retains the cubic shape during etching via a layer-by-layer mechanism. The anisotropic arrow-shaped cadmium selenide nanorods have polar facets terminated by either cadmium or selenium atoms, and the transformation trajectory is driven by etching the selenium-terminated facets. LCTEM trajectories reveal how nanoscale shape transformations of semiconductors are governed by the reactivity of specific facets in liquid environments.
@article{osti_1884786,
author = {Yan, Chang and Byrne, Dana and Ondry, Justin C. and Kahnt, Axel and Moreno-Hernandez, Ivan A. and Kamat, Gaurav A. and Liu, Zi-Jie and Laube, Christian and Crook, Michelle F. and Zhang, Ye and others},
title = {Facet-selective etching trajectories of individual semiconductor nanocrystals},
annote = {The size and shape of semiconductor nanocrystals govern their optical and electronic properties. Liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (LCTEM) is an emerging tool that can directly visualize nanoscale chemical transformations and therefore inform the precise synthesis of nanostructures with desired functions. However, it remains difficult to controllably investigate the reactions of semiconductor nanocrystals with LCTEM, because of the highly reactive environment formed by radiolysis of liquid. Here, we harness the radiolysis processes and report the single-particle etching trajectories of prototypical semiconductor nanomaterials with well-defined crystalline facets. Lead selenide nanocubes represent an isotropic structure that retains the cubic shape during etching via a layer-by-layer mechanism. The anisotropic arrow-shaped cadmium selenide nanorods have polar facets terminated by either cadmium or selenium atoms, and the transformation trajectory is driven by etching the selenium-terminated facets. LCTEM trajectories reveal how nanoscale shape transformations of semiconductors are governed by the reactivity of specific facets in liquid environments.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.abq1700},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1884786},
journal = {Science Advances},
issn = {ISSN 2375-2548},
number = {32},
volume = {8},
place = {United States},
publisher = {AAAS},
year = {2022},
month = {08}}
Scher, Erik C.; Manna, Liberato; Alivisatos, A. Paul
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 361, Issue 1803https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2002.1126