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Controlled Synthesis of Zinc Selenide Nanostructures using Oil-Water-Amphiphilic Block Copolymer Liquid Crystals
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Abstract
A technique for simultaneous size and shape control of compound semiconductor nanostructures using poly (ethylene oxide)-poly (propylene oxide)-poly (ethylene oxide) block copolymer/water/p-xylene lyotropic liquid crystals as templates is reported. Luminescent quantum dots of ZnSe were grown in the spherical domains of reverse (water-in-oil) cubic liquid crystals, hollow nanospheres and hollow nanotubes were grown around the dispersed spherical and cylindrical oil domains of the normal (oil-in-water) cubic and hexagonal phases respectively, and free-standing quantum wells (nanoplates or nanolaminates) were grown in the lamellar liquid crystals. The ZnSe nuclei were formed at room temperature by a spontaneous and irreversible reaction between zinc acetate that was dissolved in the water phase, and hydrogen selenide that was allowed to diffuse into the liquid crystalline templates. The nanostructures were characterized by HR-TEM, XRD, and optical spectroscopy. The shape of the nanocrystals can be controlled by selecting the structure of the templating phase. The size of the nanocrystals can be controlled by the size of the nanodomains and the concentration of the zinc precursor in them.
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- Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006
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