PNNL

Abstract

The structural and electronic properties of CdSe quantum dots in toluene and drop-casted on Si wafer were investigated by in-situ micro X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-Vis absorption and emission spectroscopy. The in-situ micro diffraction data show that the CdSe quantum dots capped with TOPO or hexadecylamine (HDA) in toluene exhibit predominantly wurtzite crystal structure, which undergoes a phase transformation to zinc blende crystal structure following drop casting on Si and this phase transition increases with decreasing the size of the CdSe quantum dots. Decreasing the size of quantum dots also increases the Se vacancies that facilitate the phase transformation. The X-ray photoelectron spectra show a systematic increase in the core level binding energies of Cd 3d and Se 3d, the band gap and the Cd/Se ratio as the size of the quantum dots decreases from 6.6nm to 2.1nm. This is attributed to the quantum confinement of CdSe crystallites by the capping ligands in toluene which increases with decreasing the size of the quantum dots. However, drop-casting quantum dots on Si alter the density and arrangement of capping ligands and solvent molecules on the quantum dots which causes significant phase transformation.