posted on 2024-03-05, 13:05authored byForrest
W. Eagle, Samantha Harvey, Helen Larson, Autumn Abbott, Dylan M. Ladd, Kelsey R. Levine, Michael F. Toney, Daniel R. Gamelin, Brandi M. Cossairt
We report the conversion of In37P20 magic-sized
clusters (MSCs) via cation exchange at room temperature to obtain
doped InP clusters and nanocrystals, as well as Cu3–xP, Ag3–xP, and
Au3–xP nanocrystals. Using a combination
of spectroscopic and structural characterization, we determine that
the InP clusters undergo doping with significant rearrangement of
their ligand shells, but only minor changes in their cores when 1
to 5 equiv of coinage metal salt (per cluster) are added. However,
when 37 equiv of coinage metal salt are added, the MSCs fully transform
both compositionally and structurally into new ultrasmall coinage
metal phosphide nanocrystals with complete extrusion of indium, as
determined via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction,
and pair distribution function analysis. We further document the use
of these doped InP MSCs and ultrasmall coinage metal phosphide nanocrystals
for the synthesis of larger doped InP nanocrystals and a variety of
coinage metal phosphide nanocrystals in the 3–15 nm size range.