title: Metal-free inorganic ligands for colloidal nanocrystals: S2-, HS-, Se2-, HSe-, Te2-, HTe-, TeS3(2-), OH-, and NH2- as surface ligands.
abstract: All-inorganic colloidal nanocrystals were synthesized by replacing organic capping ligands on chemically synthesized nanocrystals with metal-free inorganic ions such as S(2-), HS(-), Se(2-), HSe(-), Te(2-), HTe(-), TeS(3)(2-), OH(-) and NH(2)(-). These simple ligands adhered to the NC surface and provided colloidal stability in polar solvents. The versatility of such ligand exchange has been demonstrated for various semiconductor and metal nanocrystals of different size and shape. We showed that the key aspects of Pearson's hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB) principle, originally developed for metal coordination compounds, can be applied to the bonding of molecular species to the nanocrystal surface. The use of small inorganic ligands instead of traditional ligands with long hydrocarbon tails facilitated the charge transport between individual nanocrystals and opened up interesting opportunities for device integration of colloidal nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and James Frank Institute, University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Angshuman
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nag
authors.forename: Maksym V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Kovalenko
authors.forename: Jong-Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Wenyong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Spokoyny
authors.forename: Dmitri V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Talapin