title: Structure and vacancy distribution in copper telluride nanoparticles influence plasmonic activity in the near-infrared.
abstract: Copper chalcogenides find applications in different domains including photonics, photothermal therapy and photovoltaics. CuTe nanocrystals have been proposed as an alternative to noble metal particles for plasmonics. Although it is known that deviations from stoichiometry are a prerequisite for plasmonic activity in the near-infrared, an accurate description of the material and its (optical) properties is hindered by an insufficient understanding of the atomic structure and the influence of defects, especially for materials in their nanocrystalline form. We demonstrate that the structure of Cu1.5±xTe nanocrystals can be determined using electron diffraction tomography. Real-space high-resolution electron tomography directly reveals the three-dimensional distribution of vacancies in the structure. Through first-principles density functional theory, we furthermore demonstrate that the influence of these vacancies on the optical properties of the nanocrystals is determined. Since our methodology is applicable to a variety of crystalline nanostructured materials, it is expected to provide unique insights concerning structure-property correlations.
authors.affiliation: EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp B-2020, Belgium.|Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University, Stockholm SE-106 91, Sweden.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Willhammar
authors.affiliation: EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp B-2020, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kadir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sentosun
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Quimica Fisica, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo ES-36310, Spain.
authors.forename: Stefanos
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mourdikoudis
authors.affiliation: EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp B-2020, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goris
authors.affiliation: EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp B-2020, Belgium.
authors.forename: Mert
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurttepeli
authors.affiliation: EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp B-2020, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marnik
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bercx
authors.affiliation: EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp B-2020, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lamoen
authors.affiliation: CMT Group, Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp B-2020, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Partoens
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Quimica Fisica, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo ES-36310, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pastoriza-Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Quimica Fisica, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo ES-36310, Spain.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pérez-Juste
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Quimica Fisica, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo ES-36310, Spain.|Bionanoplasmonics Laboratory, CIC biomaGUNE, Paseo de Miramon 182, Donostia-San Sebastian ES-20014, Spain.|Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao ES-48013, Spain.
authors.forename: Luis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Liz-Marzán
authors.affiliation: EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp B-2020, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bals
authors.affiliation: EMAT, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp B-2020, Belgium.
authors.forename: Gustaaf
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Van Tendeloo