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Title: Interface disorder in large single- and multi-shell upconverting nanocrystals

Journal Article · · Journal of Materials Chemistry C
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C8TC05130E · OSTI ID:1502807
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [3];  [2]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [5]
  1. Inst. of Microstructure Technology (IMT), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany)
  2. Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe (Germany)
  3. Univ. of Grenoble, Grenoble (France)
  4. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  5. Inst. of Microstructure Technology (IMT), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany); Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe (Germany)

The growth of core–shell nanocrystals (NCs) can lead to extended interface disorder due to the intermixing of core and shell materials. Such an issue is particularly important for large single- and multi-shell upconverting NCs, which have been considered as being relatively insusceptible to intermixing. In this work, a robust methodology – based on structure-independent local chemical analyses with nanometer-scale resolution and high-energy synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction – has been used to shed new light on the chemical and structural organization of large single-, double-, and triple-shell upconverting NCs. Furthermore, the experimental results reveal, for the first time, that significant disorder: (i) exists at the interfaces of large (20–50 nm) multi-shell upconverting NCs; (ii) reaches core–shell and shell–shell interfaces, independently of their position within the structure; (iii) can be partially controlled by the shell deposition method; and (iv) leads to the formation of multiple length-scale interfaces depending on the size of the starting seeds, the number and relative thickness of the pre-existing shells in the seeds. It is likely that the results will be beneficial in furthering the fundamental understanding of the structure–property relationships of multi-shell upconverting NCs.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1502807
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1484546
Report Number(s):
BNL-211435-2019-JAAM
Journal Information:
Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Vol. 7, Issue 5; ISSN 2050-7526
Publisher:
Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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