| 1. |
- Clark, Pip C.J., et al.
(författare)
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The passivating effect of cadmium in PbS/CdS colloidal quantum dots probed by nm-scale depth profiling
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nanoscale. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2040-3364 .- 2040-3372. ; 9:18, s. 6056-6067
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Achieving control of the surface chemistry of colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) is essential to fully exploit their properties in solar cells, but direct measurement of the chemistry and electronic structure in the outermost atomic layers is challenging. Here we probe the surface oxidation and passivation of cation-exchanged PbS/CdS core/shell CQDs with sub nm-scale precision using synchrotron-radiation-excited depth-profiling photoemission. We investigate the surface composition of the topmost 1-2.5 nm of the CQDs as a function of depth, for CQDs of varying CdS shell thickness, and examine how the surface changes after prolonged air exposure. We demonstrate that the Cd is localized at the surface of the CQDs. The surface-localized products of oxidation are identified, and the extent of oxidation quantified. We show that oxidised sulfur species are progressively eliminated as Cd replaces Pb at the surface. A sub-monolayer surface 'decoration' of Cd is found to be effective in passivating the CQDs. We show that the measured energy-level alignments at PbS/CdS colloidal quantum dot surfaces differ from those expected on the basis of bulk band offsets, and are strongly affected by the oxidation products. We develop a model for the passivating action of Cd. The optimum shell thickness (of around 0.1 nm, previously found to give maximised power conversion efficiency in PbS/CdS solar cells) is found to correspond to a trade-off between the rate of oxidation and the introduction of a surface barrier to charge transport.
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| 2. |
- Fairclough, Simon M., et al.
(författare)
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Growth and Characterization of Strained and Alloyed Type-II ZnTe/ZnSe Core-Shell Nanocrystals
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 116:51, s. 26898-26907
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate the growth and the physical and optical properties of type-II heterostructured ZnTe/ZnSe colloidal nanocrystals, focusing on the role of the 7% lattice mismatch between the two materials in determining growth homogeneity and band structure. We find that the lattice mismatch between the two materials places limitations on the range of structures that can be grown, and for those in which coherent growth is achieved we present clear evidence that the low bulk modulus ZnTe cores are compressed by the higher modulus ZnSe shells, accentuating the red-shift of the excitonic state with increasing shell thickness. By employing a variety of characterization tools we build a clear picture of the core-shell architecture. We show how strain is manifested in structures with sharp core-shell interfaces and how intentional alloying of the interface can influence the growth and exciton energies. We show that a (2,6)-band effective mass model is able to distinguish between the as-grown "sharp" and "alloyed" interfaces, indicating that the alloyed structures incorporate reduced strain.
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| 3. |
- Thompson, Katherine C., et al.
(författare)
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Reaction of a Phospholipid Monolayer with Gas-Phase Ozone at the Air-Water Interface : Measurement of Surface Excess and Surface Pressure in Real Time
- 2010
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Ingår i: Langmuir. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0743-7463 .- 1520-5827. ; 26:22, s. 17295-17303
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The reaction between gas-phase ozone and monolayers of the unsaturated lipid 1-palmitoy1-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, POPC, on aqueous solutions has been studied in real time using neutron reflection and surface pressure measurements. The reaction between ozone and lung surfactant, which contains POPC, leads to decreased pulmonary function, but little is known shout the changes that occur to the interfacial material as a result of oxidation. The results reveal that the initial reaction of ozone with POPC leads to a rapid increase in surface pressure followed by a slow decrease to very low values. The neutron reflection measurements, performed on an isotopologue of POPC with a selectively deuterated palmitoyl strand, reveal that the reaction leads to loss of this strand from the air-water interface. suggesting either solubilization of the product lipid or degradation of the palmitoyl strand by a reactive species. Reactions of H-1-POPC on D2O reveal that the headgroup region of the lipids in aqueous solution is not dramatically perturbed by the reaction of POPC monolayers with ozone supporting degradation of the palmitoyl strand rather than solubilization. The results are consistent with the reaction of ozone with the oleoyl strand of POPC at the air water interface leading to the formation of OH radicals. the highly reactive OH radicals produced can then go on to react with the saturated palmitoyl strands leading to the formation or oxidized lipids with shorter alkyl tails.
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