Redox Properties of Reduced Semiconductor Nanocrystals

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The Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program supports the efforts of Professor Daniel Gamelin of the University of Washington to study the redox properties of reduced semiconductor nanocrystals. The interconversion of chemical, electrical, and optical energies is critical to many advanced technologies. Nanoscale semiconductors play central roles in many of these technologies. This research is addressing fundamental aspects of the redox and photoredox properties of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, focusing on interconversion of the various forms of energy and yielding new materials and new fundamental knowledge relevant to a wide variety of catalytic, opto-electronic, and energy-conversion technologies. Characterization of reduced-nanocrystal physical properties, electronic structures, and redox properties is building important bridges connecting fields of semiconductor nanoscience, photochemistry, electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and energy and information sciences. This project is also providing participants with advanced interdisciplinary education and training, and preparing them for careers in science, engineering, and education. Integration of research and education is being emphasized through involvement of undergraduate students in the research, incorporation of experiments and research concepts from this project into the University of Washington undergraduate curriculum, close collaboration with faculty from undergraduate institutions, and outreach activities at regional community colleges, high schools, and community events.This project aims to explore the redox properties of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals including ZnO, In2O3, CdSe, CdS, CdTe and PbS, and related compositions, focusing on the development and understanding of solution-phase reduced nanocrystals containing excess delocalized conduction-band electrons. A combination of advanced syntheses, sophisticated spectroscopies, and analytical methods is being applied to develop reduced colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals and to understand their electronic structures and redox characteristics. This research emphasizes the development of new materials, new quantitative methodologies, and new redox chemistries. The integration of synthesis, spectroscopy, reactivity studies, electronic-structure studies, and quantitative analysis is facilitating the discovery and development of advanced materials, and elucidating fundamental structure/function relationships in these unusual materials. This project is providing advanced interdisciplinary education and training for participants in the areas of inorganic, physical, and materials chemistries, preparing them for careers in science, engineering, technology innovation, and education. These activities have a broader impact through integration of research and education, particularly at the undergraduate level, and through outreach activities involving regional community colleges, high schools, and the general community.