title: Compound Copper Chalcogenide Nanocrystals.
abstract: This review captures the synthesis, assembly, properties, and applications of copper chalcogenide NCs, which have achieved significant research interest in the last decade due to their compositional and structural versatility. The outstanding functional properties of these materials stems from the relationship between their band structure and defect concentration, including charge carrier concentration and electronic conductivity character, which consequently affects their optoelectronic, optical, and plasmonic properties. This, combined with several metastable crystal phases and stoichiometries and the low energy of formation of defects, makes the reproducible synthesis of these materials, with tunable parameters, remarkable. Further to this, the review captures the progress of the hierarchical assembly of these NCs, which bridges the link between their discrete and collective properties. Their ubiquitous application set has cross-cut energy conversion (photovoltaics, photocatalysis, thermoelectrics), energy storage (lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen generation), emissive materials (plasmonics, LEDs, biolabelling), sensors (electrochemical, biochemical), biomedical devices (magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray computer tomography), and medical therapies (photochemothermal therapies, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, and drug delivery). The confluence of advances in the synthesis, assembly, and application of these NCs in the past decade has the potential to significantly impact society, both economically and environmentally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Sciences and Bernal Institute, University of Limerick , Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coughlan
authors.affiliation: Catalonia Energy Research Institute - IREC, Sant Adria de Besos , Jardins de les Dones de Negre n.1, Pl. 2, 08930 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ibáñez
authors.affiliation: Catalonia Energy Research Institute - IREC, Sant Adria de Besos , Jardins de les Dones de Negre n.1, Pl. 2, 08930 Barcelona, Spain.|Department of Electronics and Computing, Sumy State University , 2 Rymskogo-Korsakova st., 40007 Sumy, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Oleksandr
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9238-7596
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dobrozhan
authors.affiliation: Materials Physics & Applications Division: Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory , Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, United States.
authors.forename: Ajay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Catalonia Energy Research Institute - IREC, Sant Adria de Besos , Jardins de les Dones de Negre n.1, Pl. 2, 08930 Barcelona, Spain.|ICREA, Pg. Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Andreu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cabot
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Sciences and Bernal Institute, University of Limerick , Limerick, Ireland.
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3670-8505
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018011:Chalcogens / Q000737:chemistry*; D060326:Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D018011:Chalcogens; D003300:Copper