RUI: Materials Design and Wavefunction Engineering in Lead Sulfide Based Nanocrystals

Paul G.中田纳西州州立大学的货车Patten获得了化学系高分子、超分子和纳米化学（MSN）项目的这一奖项的支持，研究了硫化铅（PbS）量子点（QD）与含有主族金属、第一行过渡金属或镧系阳离子的各种盐之间的反应。这些反应将导致量子点内的部分或完全阳离子交换，以产生各种新的金属硫化物量子点，这些量子点以前没有制备或研究过。改变QD内金属阳离子的分布将允许调整电子能级和载波波函数，从而赋予这些材料新的反应性和/或光学性质。该项目将包括这些新材料的结构、光学甚至磁性表征，着眼于理解结构/性能关系，并识别具有强大技术应用潜力的材料。新材料的探索对未来技术的发展至关重要，一直是化学科学的中心目标。该项目将研究从PbS量子点衍生的几种新材料，这些材料本身因其太阳能转换潜力而受到极大关注。这里开发的新材料预计将涵盖广泛的化学和光学性质，以进一步改善PbS量子点已经有前途的特性。该研究项目还将为几位初级科学家提供宝贵的教育和研究经验，包括硕士生，本科生，甚至是来自美国化学学会项目SEED计划的高中暑期实习生。

Professor Paul G. Van Patten of Middle Tennessee State University is supported by this award from the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry (MSN) Program in the Division of Chemistry to study the reactions between lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dots (QDs) and a variety of salts containing main group metals, first-row transition metals, or lanthanide cations. These reactions will result in partial or complete cation exchange within the QDs to produce a variety of novel, metal sulfide QDs that have not been prepared or studied before. Varying the distribution of metal cations within the QDs will permit tuning of electronic energy levels and carrier wavefunctions, thus imparting novel reactivity and/or optical properties to these materials. The project will include structural, optical, and even magnetic characterization of these new materials with an eye toward understanding structure/property relationships and toward identifying materials with strong potential for technological application.The exploration of new materials is essential to the development of future technologies and has always been a central goal of the chemical sciences. This project will investigate several new materials derived from PbS quantum dots, which have themselves garnered significant attention for their solar energy conversion potential. The new materials developed here are expected to cover a wide spectrum of chemical and optical properties to further improve on the already-promising characteristics of PbS QDs. This research project will also provide valuable education and research experience for several junior scientists, including master's students, undergraduates, and even high school summer interns from the American Chemical Society's Project SEED program.