Stoichiometric Control of Atom Economical Reactions as a Tool for Accessing Thermodynamic and Kinetic Phases

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Amy Prieto of Colorado State University is studying an efficient synthetic toolkit for making nanocrystals of semiconducting materials. A significant challenge in building new devices for modern applications is having better materials for those devices. While there have been major advances in the scientific community’s ability to predict new materials that would be useful for a range of important applications, even the most accurate predictions don’t come with clear, fool-proof recipes for how to make those compounds. The nanomaterials to be made in this project are composed of non-toxic, earth-abundant elements that could all be sourced in the United States and have the potential to offer tunable properties that could be exploited in photovoltaic devices. Professor Amy Prieto and her team will involve high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in this research, which results in excellent training for these students as they enter careers in chemistry. With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Amy Prieto of Colorado State University is studying a synthetic toolkit that would result in atom-economical reactions to make phase pure ternary semiconductor nanoparticles. The main goal of this work would build off the initial synthesis of one member of the Cu/P/Se phase diagram to develop the synthetic parameters needed to controllably access phosphorous deficient metastable C/P/Se nanoparticles as well as analogous compounds on the Ag/P/Se phase diagram. This research will utilize a diverse range of tools to identify solution species and crystalline products under both in-situ reaction conditions and post-synthesis in order to identify and understand the stoichiometries of these reactions. By developing this toolkit for the synthesis of semiconductor nanoparticles, reaction pathways for pure phase multinary nanoparticles with tunable composition, structure, and surface chemistry are expected and these could be exploited in future applications utilizing semiconducting compounds. This type of research is a powerful tool for recruiting and training students from a range of ages, with the goal of preparing them for careers in materials chemistry. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.