229
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
G. Sindona et al. (eds.), Toxic Chemical and Biological Agents, NATO Science
for Peace and Security Series A: Chemistry and Biology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-2041-8_18
Chapter 18
Fabrication of QDs Dimers with SubNanometer Interparticle Distance
Carlo Nazareno Dibenedetto, Elisabetta Fanizza, Annamaria Panniello,
Angela Agostiano, Maria Lucia Curri, and Marinella Striccoli
The semiconductor devices industry is constantly looking for a better control at the
nanoscale. Efforts to miniaturize electronic devices point towards the exploitation
of new materials and the use of chemical assembling strategies [1] that enables a
control on the construction of solid structures at the atomic scale. Among the
advanced materials, colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are promising
materials for the fabrication of nanoscale devices used for the implementation of
optoelectronic, photonic and sensing application [2]. At such a scale, assemblies of
colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) show original electronic collective
properties, due to the QD coupling, depending on the number of connected nanoobjects and their interparticle distance [3]. While most device implementations use
disordered QD aggregates, here the fabrication and characterization of nanostructures composed of a low number of QDs with precise stoichiometry and defined
nanometric and sub-nanometric particle-particle spacing are described. Dimers of
CdSe QDs in solution are fabricated by engineering QD surface chemistry with
ligand treatments that reduce the surface steric hindrance and promote the connection between two QDs by means of alkyl dithiols bifunctional molecules [4]. Alkyl
dithiols with different chain lengths are selected to tune the interparticle distance
from few nanometers down to sub-nanometers, where strong coupling is expected
to be achieved.
C. N. Dibenedetto (*) · E. Fanizza · A. Agostiano · M. L. Curri
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Bari, Italy
CNR-Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici SS Bari, Bari, Italy
e-mail: c.dibenedetto@ba.ipcf.cnr.it
A. Panniello · M. Striccoli
CNR-Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici SS Bari, Bari, Italy
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
G. Sindona et al. (eds.), Toxic Chemical and Biological Agents, NATO Science
for Peace and Security Series A: Chemistry and Biology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-2041-8_18
Chapter 18
Fabrication of QDs Dimers with SubNanometer Interparticle Distance
Carlo Nazareno Dibenedetto, Elisabetta Fanizza, Annamaria Panniello,
Angela Agostiano, Maria Lucia Curri, and Marinella Striccoli
The semiconductor devices industry is constantly looking for a better control at the
nanoscale. Efforts to miniaturize electronic devices point towards the exploitation
of new materials and the use of chemical assembling strategies [1] that enables a
control on the construction of solid structures at the atomic scale. Among the
advanced materials, colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are promising
materials for the fabrication of nanoscale devices used for the implementation of
optoelectronic, photonic and sensing application [2]. At such a scale, assemblies of
colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) show original electronic collective
properties, due to the QD coupling, depending on the number of connected nanoobjects and their interparticle distance [3]. While most device implementations use
disordered QD aggregates, here the fabrication and characterization of nanostructures composed of a low number of QDs with precise stoichiometry and defined
nanometric and sub-nanometric particle-particle spacing are described. Dimers of
CdSe QDs in solution are fabricated by engineering QD surface chemistry with
ligand treatments that reduce the surface steric hindrance and promote the connection between two QDs by means of alkyl dithiols bifunctional molecules [4]. Alkyl
dithiols with different chain lengths are selected to tune the interparticle distance
from few nanometers down to sub-nanometers, where strong coupling is expected
to be achieved.
C. N. Dibenedetto (*) · E. Fanizza · A. Agostiano · M. L. Curri
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Bari, Italy
CNR-Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici SS Bari, Bari, Italy
e-mail: c.dibenedetto@ba.ipcf.cnr.it
A. Panniello · M. Striccoli
CNR-Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici SS Bari, Bari, Italy