Tunable electronic interfaces between bulk semiconductors and ligand stabilized nanoparticle assemblies

PHYS 191

Shannon W. Boettcher, sboettcher@chem.ucsb.edu1, Nicholas C. Strandwitz, nstrand@engineering.ucsb.edu2, Martin Schierhorn1, Nina Lock3, Mark C. Lonergan, lonergan@darkwing.uoregon.edu4, and Galen D. Stucky, stucky@chem.ucsb.edu1. (1) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, (2) Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, (3) Department of Chemistry, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark, (4) Department of Chemistry, The Materials Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1253
Electronic materials compatible with low-temperature solution-processes such as printing or spraying could revolutionize the electronics industry. Ligand-stabilized inorganic nanoparticles are a promising class of such materials. The details regarding the electronic structure of interfaces between inorganic nanoparticles and other traditional electronic materials, such as bulk semiconductors, are important for applications but still largely unexplored. We report that interfaces between solution-processed gold nanoparticle films and semiconducting n-InP substrates behave as nearly ideal Schottky diodes (quality factor ~ 1.3) with the electrostatic barrier at the nanoparticle-semiconductor interface actively tunable from 0.26 eV to 1.11 eV by electrochemically charging the nanoparticle film (Boettcher et. al. Nat. Mater. 2007 6, 592.) This result is remarkable as interfacial barriers at conventional metal-InP contacts are largely insensitive to the initial electrochemical potential (Fermi level) of the metal. Recent related efforts to control electronic doping of nanoparticle-based materials using ligand chemistry will also be discussed.
 

Nanostructured Materials
8:20 AM-12:00 PM, Tuesday, April 8, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. 338/339, Oral

Division of Physical Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008