Engineering Commons^™

Dissolution Of Chalcogens In Amine Thiol Solvents For Use In Nanoparticles, Gaurav A. Mittal, Caleb K. Miskin, Rakesh Agrawal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Lead chalcogenide quantum dots have been shown to be ideal materials for solar cells due to their tunable band gap. Developing a dissolution procedure for chalcogens will help lower the production cost of the solar cells produced by the associated nanoparticles. Dissolution was performed in both aqueous and nonaqueous solutions. Precursors for sulfur and selnium were dissolved in both the aqueous solution of ammonium thioglycolate and ammonium hydroxide and in combinations of amines and thiols. Precursors for tellurium were dissolved in ethylenediamine and different thiols. Lead telluride forms larger microparticles that can be suitable for thermoelectric devices. The optimum solutions …