Abstract
Molecular mechanisms and precursor conversion pathways associated with the reactions that generate colloidal nanocrystals are crucial for the development of rational synthetic protocols. In this study, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy technique was employed to explore the molecular mechanism associated with the formation of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanocrystals. We found that the reaction pathways of the indium precursor were not consistent with simple ligand replacements proposed in the literature. The resulting understanding inspired us to design a hot-injection approach to separate the ligand replacements of indium acetate and the aminolysis processes, generating quality ITO nanocrystals with decent size distributions. The hot-injection approach was readily applied to the synthesis of ITO nanocrystals with a broad range of tin doping. Structural, chemical, and optical analyses revealed effective doping of Sn4+ ions into the host lattices, leading to characteristic and tunable near-infrared surface plasmon resonance peaks. The size control of ITO nanocrystals by multiple hot-injections of metal precursors was also demonstrated.
Highlights
Colloidal nanocrystals are an important class of functional materials for both fundamental studies and practical applications due to their remarkable properties and excellent solution processability [1,2,3]
In conclusion, we provide a detailed study on the synthesis and characterization of monodisperse colloidal ITO nanocrystals
The molecular mechanism associated with the formation of the ITO nanocrystals was identified as amide elimination through aminolysis of metal carboxylate salts
Summary
Colloidal nanocrystals are an important class of functional materials for both fundamental studies and practical applications due to their remarkable properties and excellent solution processability [1,2,3]. It is noteworthy that in 2009, Masayuki and coworkers reported the synthesis of ITO nanocrystals with tunable surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peaks by controlling the concentrations of tin doping [28]. This finding is the first example of tunable SPR in the near-infrared (NIR) region for oxide nanoparticles. We further applied the hot-injection approach to the synthesis of ITO nanocrystals with a broad range of tin dopants and developed multiple injection procedures, aiming to achieve size control of the products
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