Nanometer Sized Rare Earth Chalcogenide Clusters: Synthesis,Characterization, and Chemical Reactivity Studies

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

/his award is made by the Office of Special Projects in the Chemistry Division under the Materials Synthesis and Processing Initiative. This research will explore the relationships between the properties of molecular, colloidal and solid state rare earth selenides and tellurides. New organo-rare earth compounds will be prepared and characterized in order to understand the fundamental aspects of bonding in rare earth coordination chemistry. These compounds will be thermolyzed at low temperatures into both nanometer-sized clusters and solid state compounds in order to examine the unique optical and magnetic properties of these semiconducting materials. Rare earth nanoclusters will be characterized by NMR and transmission electron microscopy to document the evolution of size-dependent structural, electronic and magnetic properties. Once the fundamental properties of these materials have been outlined, the chemical properties responsible for cluster stability and particle size distribution can be determined. %%% This low temperature approach to rare earth chalcogenides may afford the possibility of isolating metastable solid state compounds which would be unable to withstand the high temperatures associated with conventional solid state synthesis.