Electroless Deposition of III-V Semiconductor Nanostructures from Ionic Liquids at Room Temperature.
Group III-V semiconductor nanostructures are important materials in optoelectronic devices and are being researched in energy-related fields. A simple approach for the synthesis of these semiconductors with well-defined nanostructures is desired. Electroless deposition (galvanic displacement) is a fast and versatile technique for deposition of one material on another and depends on the redox potentials of the two materials. Herein we show that GaSb can be directly synthesized at room temperature by galvanic displacement of SbCl3 /ionic liquid on electrodeposited Ga, on Ga nanowires, and also on commercial Ga. In situ AFM revealed the galvanic displacement process of Sb on Ga and showed that the displacement process continues even after the formation of GaSb. The bandgap of the deposited GaSb was 0.9±0.1 eV compared to its usual bandgap of 0.7 eV. By changing the cation in the ionic liquid, the redox process could be varied leading to GaSb with different optical properties.
Institute of Electrochemistry, Clausthal University of Technology, Arnold-Sommerfeld-Strasse 6, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany). abhishek.lahiri@tu-clausthal.de.
Abhishek
A
Lahiri
Institute of Electrochemistry, Clausthal University of Technology, Arnold-Sommerfeld-Strasse 6, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany). natalia.borissenko@tu-clausthal.de.
Natalia
N
Borisenko
Institute of Electrochemistry, Clausthal University of Technology, Arnold-Sommerfeld-Strasse 6, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany).
Mark
M
Olschewski
Institute of Electrochemistry, Clausthal University of Technology, Arnold-Sommerfeld-Strasse 6, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany).
René
R
Gustus
Institute of Electrochemistry, Clausthal University of Technology, Arnold-Sommerfeld-Strasse 6, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany).
Janine
J
Zahlbach
Institute of Electrochemistry, Clausthal University of Technology, Arnold-Sommerfeld-Strasse 6, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany).
Frank
F
Endres
AFM; GaSb; electroless deposition; ionic liquids; semiconductors