January 18, 2008
Researcher, Dmitri Talapin and collaborators, at the University of Chicago Materials Research Science and Engineering Center have been studying electronic properties of new nanoscale materials consisting of combinations of materials exhibiting different types of nanoscale functionality. These components are integrated into individual nanostructures forming multicomponent quantum-confined objects.
The specific design of these particles--with one component making up the core, and the other material organizing in a shell around the first--maximizes the interaction between the components and provides a convenient platform for further study of interactions between the materials at nanoscale.
The team of scientists fabricated field-effect transistors based on these newly synthesized nanostructures and observed novel electronic behavior that combines the charge-transfer and doping phenomena characteristic of semiconductor functionality with the plasmonic or magnetic behavior of the metallic constituent.
Work made possible through the NSF MRSEC program, DMR-0213745.
- "Au-PbS Core-Shell Nanocrystals: Plasmonic Absorption Enhancement and Electrical Doping via Intra-particle Charge Transfer," Jong-Soo Lee, Elena V. Shevchenko, and Dmitri V. Talapin, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 130, 9673-9675 (2008).