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Nano Research 2022, 15(3): 2634-2642 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3858-1
Research Article | Issue | Published: 18 September 2021

Precursor compound enabled formation of aqueous-phase CdSe magic-size clusters at room temperature

Show Author's Information Min Zhao1,  Qingyuan Chen2,  Yongcheng Zhu2,  Yuehui Liu3,  Chunchun Zhang4,  Gang Jiang2,  Meng Zhang2( ),  Kui Yu2,3,5( )
School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Engineering Research Center in Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Analytical & Testing Center, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Keywords:
self-assembly, aqueous magic-size cluster, precursor compound, formation pathway, precursor configuration
Topics:
Nanoclusters
Cite this article:
Zhao M, Chen Q, Zhu Y, et al. Precursor compound enabled formation of aqueous-phase CdSe magic-size clusters at room temperature. Nano Research, 2022, 15(3): 2634-2642. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3858-1
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Abstract Full text About this article

The formation pathway of aqueous-phase colloidal semiconductor magic-size clusters (MSCs) remains unrevealed. In the present work, we demonstrate, for the first time, a precursor compound (PC)-enabled formation pathway of aqueous-phase CdSe MSCs exhibiting a sharp absorption peaking at about 420 nm (MSC-420). The CdSe MSC-420 is synthesized with CdCl2 and selenourea as the respective Cd and Se sources, and with 3-mercaptopropionic acid or L-cysteine as a ligand. Absorption featureless CdSe PCs form first in the aqueous reaction batches, which transform to MSC-420 in the presence of primary amines. The coordination between primary amine and Cd2+ on PCs may be responsible to the PC-to-MSC transformation. Upon increasing the reactant concentrations or decreasing the CdCl2-ligand feed molar ratios, the Cd precursor self-assembles into large aggregates, which may encapsulate the resulting CdSe PCs and inhibit their transformation to MSC-420. The present study sheds essential light on the syntheses and formation mechanisms of nanocrystals.


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About this article

Precursor compound enabled formation of aqueous-phase CdSe magic-size clusters at room temperature

Show Author's information Min Zhao1, Qingyuan Chen2, Yongcheng Zhu2, Yuehui Liu3, Chunchun Zhang4, Gang Jiang2, Meng Zhang2( ), Kui Yu2,3,5( )
School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Engineering Research Center in Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Analytical & Testing Center, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China

Abstract

The formation pathway of aqueous-phase colloidal semiconductor magic-size clusters (MSCs) remains unrevealed. In the present work, we demonstrate, for the first time, a precursor compound (PC)-enabled formation pathway of aqueous-phase CdSe MSCs exhibiting a sharp absorption peaking at about 420 nm (MSC-420). The CdSe MSC-420 is synthesized with CdCl2 and selenourea as the respective Cd and Se sources, and with 3-mercaptopropionic acid or L-cysteine as a ligand. Absorption featureless CdSe PCs form first in the aqueous reaction batches, which transform to MSC-420 in the presence of primary amines. The coordination between primary amine and Cd2+ on PCs may be responsible to the PC-to-MSC transformation. Upon increasing the reactant concentrations or decreasing the CdCl2-ligand feed molar ratios, the Cd precursor self-assembles into large aggregates, which may encapsulate the resulting CdSe PCs and inhibit their transformation to MSC-420. The present study sheds essential light on the syntheses and formation mechanisms of nanocrystals.

Keywords: self-assembly, aqueous magic-size cluster, precursor compound, formation pathway, precursor configuration

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 05 July 2021
Revised: 25 August 2021
Accepted: 02 September 2021
Published: 18 September 2021
Issue date: March 2022

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

K. Y. thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21773162), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Applied Basic Research Programs of Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (No. 2020YJ0326), the State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering of Sichuan University (No. sklpme2020-2-09), the Open Project of Key State Laboratory for Supramolecular Structures and Materials of Jilin University (No. SKLSSM 2021030), and the National Major Scientific and Technological Special Project for “Significant New Drugs Development” (No. 2019ZX09201005-005-002). M. Z. is grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22002099), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2020T130441), Sichuan University postdoctoral interdisciplinary Innovation Fund, and the Open Project of Key State Laboratory for Supramolecular Structures and Materials of Jilin University (No. SKLSSM 2021032). We would like to thank the Analytical & Testing Center of Sichuan University for both ESI-MS and NMR measurements.

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