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Nano Research 2023, 16(10): 12315-12322 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5952-z
Research Article | Issue | Published: 05 August 2023

The activity of Zn precursors determines the cation exchange reaction kinetics with Ag2S: Zn-doped Ag2S or Ag2S@ZnS QDs

Show Author's Information Zhiyong Tang1,2,  Hongchao Yang1( ),  Ziqiang Sun1,  Yejun Zhang1( ),  Guangcun Chen1,2,  Qiangbin Wang1,2( )
CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface, Division of Nanobiomedicine and i-Lab, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China
Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Keywords:
phase structure, cation exchange, Ag2S quantum dots, coordination, desolvation
Topics:
Semiconductor quantum dots
Cite this article:
Tang Z, Yang H, Sun Z, et al. The activity of Zn precursors determines the cation exchange reaction kinetics with Ag2S: Zn-doped Ag2S or Ag2S@ZnS QDs. Nano Research, 2023, 16(10): 12315-12322. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5952-z
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Cation exchange (CE) has been emerged as a promising post-synthesis strategy of colloidal nanocrystals. However, it is unclear how the cation precursor affects the CE process and the final colloidal nanocrystals. Herein, we utilized two Zn-B Lewis acid-base adduct complexes (B = oleylamine (OAM) and methanol (MeOH)) as Zn precursors for CE with Ag2S quantum dots (QDs). Our study revealed that the steric hindrance and complexing capabilities of Zn precursor significantly affect the CE kinetics. As a result, the Zn-doped Ag2S (Zn:Ag2S) and Ag2S@ZnS core–shell QDs were successfully obtained with enormous enhancement of their photoluminescence (PL) intensities. Theoretical simulation showed that the Zn-OAM with higher desolvation energy and spatial hindrance tended to form doped Zn:Ag2S QDs due to the inefficient cation exchange. Whereas the Zn-MeOH with lower exchange barrier promoted the conversion of Ag-S to Zn-S, thus forming Ag2S@ZnS core–shell QDs. We anticipate that this finding will enrich the regulatory approaches of post-synthesis of colloidal nanocrystals with desirable properties.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

The activity of Zn precursors determines the cation exchange reaction kinetics with Ag2S: Zn-doped Ag2S or Ag2S@ZnS QDs

Show Author's information Zhiyong Tang1,2, Hongchao Yang1( ), Ziqiang Sun1, Yejun Zhang1( ), Guangcun Chen1,2, Qiangbin Wang1,2( )
CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface, Division of Nanobiomedicine and i-Lab, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China
Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China

Abstract

Cation exchange (CE) has been emerged as a promising post-synthesis strategy of colloidal nanocrystals. However, it is unclear how the cation precursor affects the CE process and the final colloidal nanocrystals. Herein, we utilized two Zn-B Lewis acid-base adduct complexes (B = oleylamine (OAM) and methanol (MeOH)) as Zn precursors for CE with Ag2S quantum dots (QDs). Our study revealed that the steric hindrance and complexing capabilities of Zn precursor significantly affect the CE kinetics. As a result, the Zn-doped Ag2S (Zn:Ag2S) and Ag2S@ZnS core–shell QDs were successfully obtained with enormous enhancement of their photoluminescence (PL) intensities. Theoretical simulation showed that the Zn-OAM with higher desolvation energy and spatial hindrance tended to form doped Zn:Ag2S QDs due to the inefficient cation exchange. Whereas the Zn-MeOH with lower exchange barrier promoted the conversion of Ag-S to Zn-S, thus forming Ag2S@ZnS core–shell QDs. We anticipate that this finding will enrich the regulatory approaches of post-synthesis of colloidal nanocrystals with desirable properties.

Keywords: phase structure, cation exchange, Ag2S quantum dots, coordination, desolvation

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 17 February 2023
Revised: 30 May 2023
Accepted: 23 June 2023
Published: 05 August 2023
Issue date: October 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2023

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFF0701804) and the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21934007, 22001262, 22177128, and 22271308), the Science and Technology Project of Suzhou (No. SZS201904), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Nos. BK20222016, BK20200254, and BK20221262). The authors also acknowledge Prof. Zhujun Wang of ShanghaiTech Univesity for performing the HAADF-STEM and EDS element maps test.

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