The Nanocrystalline State of Narrow Gap Semiconducting Chalcogenides
Abstract
The proposed program developed synthetic routes to nanocrystalline narrow band gap semiconductors relevant to efficient thermoelectric power generation and to a broader set of electronic applications. The investigated materials were selected from a well known class of narrow band gap semiconducting chalcogenides. We assessed the potential of the nanocrystal-derived materials for achieving high performance as thermoelectrics and found that the potential is low because of the inability to dope the nanocrystals. One objective was to investigate their nanocrystalline state (<50 nm), their capacity for doping with alio-valent element and impurities so that we may control and exploit their electrical transport properties for naval related power generation and detection applications. We discovered that nanoparticles exhibit a self-cleaning effect and expel any alio-valent impurities that might act as dopants. We also discovered new semiconductor phases of matter that are stable only when they exist in the nanosize regime and unstable when they exist in the bulk.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 23, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA530248
Entities
People
- Mercouri Kanatzidis
Organizations
- Northwestern University