Germanium nanocrystals (Ge NCs) have potential to be used in several optoelectronic applications such as photodetectors and light-emitting diodes. Here, we report a solid-state route to synthesizing Ge NCs through thermal disproportionation of a germania (GeOX) glass, which was synthesized by hydrolyzing a GeCl2·dioxane complex. The GeOX glass synthesized in this manner was found to have residual Cl content. The process of nanocrystal nucleation and growth was monitored using powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Compared to existing solid-state routes for synthesizing colloidal Ge NCs, this approach requires fewer steps and is amenable to scaling to large-scale reactions.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/emily-smith/49/
This article is published as Wang, Yujie, Utkarsh Ramesh, Charles KA Nyamekye, Bradley J. Ryan, Rainie D. Nelson, Abdulla M. Alebri, Umar H. Hamdeh, Atefe Hadi, Emily A. Smith, and Matthew G. Panthani. "Synthesis of germanium nanocrystals from solid-state disproportionation of a chloride-derived germania glass." Chemical Communications 55, no. 43 (2019): 6102-6105. DOI: 10.1039/C9CC01676G. Posted with permission.