Surface
Doping for Hindrance of Crystal Growth and
Structural Transformation in Semiconductor Nanocrystals
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Abstract
Doping can strongly influence the
crystal growth of semiconductor
nanocrystals. It can change the surface energy and therefore the growth
directions and shape of the host nanocrystals. While doping of transition
metal ions in various semiconductor host nanocrystals is widely studied
for obtaining new material properties, the effect of doping on crystal
growth has been less explored. Herein, we study the change in the
crystal growth pattern and growth rate with doping of one of the most
common dopants Mn in a ZnSe host. With the help of selective surface
binding ligands, hemisphere-shaped zinc blende nanostructures are
designed from ZnSe seeds and dopant Mn precursors in different amounts
are introduced at different stages of the synthetic process. Monitoring
the sequential product and analyzing the surface or internal locations
of the dopants, the possibility of shape change has been discussed.
Moreover, the mutual effects of crystal growth and doping on one another
are also determined considering the progress of the reactions under
different conditions. We believe that the results presented here are
important for understanding the doping mechanism and its effects during
crystal growth in semiconductor nanocrystals, which are not clear
to date