SBIR Phase I: Industrial Scale Formation of the Stable and Processable Core/Shell Semiconductor Nanocrystals

Nanomaterials And Nanofabrication Laboratories, Fayetteville AR

Investigators

Abstract

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a new technology for the industrial production of high quality core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals, which have shown great potential for a variety of electronic, biological and medical applications. At present, all of these commercial applications are constrained by the availability of stable, high quality core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals on a large scale with an affordable price. Different from the existing organometallic approach, this project is built up on the greener, inexpensive and high performance Solution Atomic Layer Epitaxial (SALE) synthetic strategies developed by the NNL and the University of Arkansas. The SALE makes possible the scale-up and the high quality of the core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals by growing cationic and anionic ion shell materials on the core nanocrystals surface in the solution layer by layer alternatively. This new synthesis scheme for producing the core/shell nanocrystals should be extendable to the continue batch (CB) method that maximizes the power of the existing synthetic schemes. The core/shell nanocrystals could be stabilized by dendron ligands and further crosslinking. In this way, both the quality and the quantity of the resulting core/shell nanocrystals are guaranteed. The commercial applications and other benefits of this technology is in the value of the core/shell colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals in the field of electronic and medical applications lies on the large area display, portable electronic devices, medical devices and medical diagnostics, etc. A multi-billion dollar market for the production of those electronic devices and medical diagnostics is in rapid development