GaAs Clusters in the Quantum Size Regime: Growth on High Surface Area Silica by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

The Chemistry and Packaging of Nanocomposite Confined Arrays

The miniaturization of electronic and optic devices has revolutionized response times, energy loss and transport efficiency. An additional bonus is that as one approaches the nanosize regime the presence or absence of a few atoms and the geometrical disposition of each atom can significantly modify electronic and photonic properties. This control can be further supplemented by “packaging” assemblies of atoms or molecules into thin film or nanocomposite bulk materials to define surface states, cluster environment and geometry, intercluster interactions, and consequently, a wide tunable range of optical and charge carrier responses.

The chemist is presented with an intriguing challenge. First the clusters must be unisized with identical geometries. Secondly, the atom or molecular assemblies should ideally have perfect periodicity in order to rigorously define optoelectronic densities and intercluster tunnelling. A third requirement is that the nanocomposite be processable, generally in the form of thin films or single crystals. Numerous approaches are being undertaken in achieve these goals, including molecular beam and atomic layer epitaxy, molecular sieve inclusion chemistry, molecular capping of inorganic clusters, porous glass and aerosol synthesis. This paper presents a brief review of the interface chemistry associated with nanophase confinement and packaging and some features of three dimensional surface confinement using molecular sieves and zeolites.

Luminescent colloidal silicon suspensions from porous silicon

A procedure for generating colloidal suspensions of Si that exhibit luminescence, attributed to quantum confinement effects, is described. Samples of n- or p-type Si that have been electrochemically etched to form porous Si can be ultrasonically dispersed into methylene chloride, acetonitrile, methanol, toluene, or water solvents, forming a suspension of fine Si particles that luminesce. Transmission electron microscopy analyses show that the Si particles have irregular shapes, with diameters ranging from many micrometers to nanometers. Luminescent, composite polystyrene/Si films can be made by the addition of polystyrene to a toluene suspension of the Si nanoparticles and casting of the resulting solution onto a glass slide.

Sonochemical preparation of GaSb nanoparticles

A room temperature sonochemical method for the preparation of GaSb nanoparticles using less hazardous Ga and antimony chloride (SbCl(3)) as the precursors has been described. The formation of GaSb has been confirmed by means of XRD, EDAX, and XPS characterization. TEM and SAED results show that the as-prepared solid consists of nanosized GaSb crystals with sizes in the range 20-30 nm. The photoacoustic spectrum result reveals that the GaSb nanoparticles have a direct band gap of about 1.21 eV. On the basis of the control experiments and the extreme conditions produced by ultrasound, an ultrasound-assisted in-situ reduction/combination mechanism has been proposed to explain the reaction.