From dots to stripes to sheets - Shape control of lead sulfide nanostructures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how to control the shape of lead sulfide nanostructures from spheres to sheets by adjusting synthesis parameters, enabling tailored properties for electronic and solar cell applications.

Contribution

It introduces a method to tune nanostructure shapes via precursor concentration, co-ligand levels, and temperature, advancing shape control in colloidal nanomaterials.

Findings

Shape can be tuned from spheres to sheets.

Final structures maintain at least one dimension in confinement.

Electrical measurements support the shape control results.

Abstract

Controlling anisotropy in nanostructures is a challenging but rewarding task since confinement in one or more dimensions influences the physical and chemical properties of the items decisively. In particular, semiconducting nanostructures can be tailored to gain optimized properties to work as transistors or absorber material in solar cells. We demonstrate that the shape of colloidal lead sulfide nanostructures can be tuned from spheres to stripes to sheets by means of the precursor concentrations, the concentration of a chloroalkane co-ligand and the synthesis temperature. All final structures still possess at least one dimension in confinement. Electrical transport measurements complement the findings.