Patent Application
20190119565
The present invention relates to an infrared device using electron transition between quantized energy levels, and more particularly, to quantum dot nanoparticles which comprise quantum dot cores and nonthiol ligands bonded to the core and emit infrared rays from electron transition between discrete energy levels in the band and an infrared device comprising the nanoparticles.
A quantum dot is a nano-sized semiconductor substance and exhibits quantum confinement effect. When the quantum dot is stimulated by an energy such as light, the quantum dot emits light and a color of the emitted light varies depending on a size of the particle. That is, when the size of the substance is small so that a dimension of the substance is lowered, the property of the substance may vary depending on the dimension due to different electron state density and energy. When the quantum dot absorbs the light from an excitation source to reach an energy exited state, the quantum dot emits energy corresponding to an energy band gap of the quantum dot. Therefore, when a size and a composition of the quantum dot are controlled, an energy band gap is also controlled so that light from an ultraviolet region to a near infrared region may be emitted. However, it is very difficult to emit infrared rays, specifically, mid-infrared rays or far-infrared rays due to a large band gap of the quantum dot.
In the meantime, generally, the quantum dot may be mainly prepared by two ways as follows. One of them is a lithographic method using a light source such as a laser and the other is a chemical wet method in which a precursor is added to a solvent to grow crystals. Between two ways, according to the chemical wet method which synthesizes the quantum dots, uniformity of the size and the shape of the nanoparticles may be controlled by easier and cheaper processes than that of the lithographic method. Further, a choroidal quantum dot which is passivated with an organic ligand is not aggregated in a solution due to steric hindrance of the organic ligand, maintains a stable structure, and exhibits excellent luminescent characteristics by passivation of surface detects. However, the choroidal quantum dot which is stabilized by a thiol organic ligand of the related art has a disadvantage in that the ligand substitution for photoelectronic applications such as photodetectors and solar cells is not easy.
(Patent Document 1) Korean Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-2009-0114112
The present inventors confirm that when discrete electron transition energy in a band of a quantum dot having a proportion of metal which is non-stoichiometrically higher than a proportion of chalcogen is used, infrared rays, particularly, mid-infrared rays or far-infrared rays are emitted, while searching an infrared device, and then complete the present invention.
Therefore, the present invention is directed to providing non-stoichiometric quantum dot nanoparticles which comprise quantum dot cores and nonthiol ligands bonded to the core and emit infrared rays from electron transition between discrete energy levels in the band.
Further, the present invention is directed to providing a producing method of non-stoichiometric colloidal quantum dot nanoparticles comprising nonthiol ligands.
Furthermore, the present invention is directed to providing an infrared device comprising the non-stoichiometric quantum dot nanoparticles.
An aspect of the present invention provides non-stoichiometric quantum dot nanoparticles which comprise quantum dot cores and nonthiol ligands bonded to the core and emit infrared rays from electron transition between discrete energy levels in the band.
Further, another aspect of the present invention provides a producing method of non-stoichiometric colloidal quantum dot nanoparticles comprising (1) preparing a mercury (Hg) precursor solution by heating a mixture of a mercury (Hg) precursor and nonthiol ligands at 100to 150° C.; and (2) mixing the mercury (Hg) precursor solution and the chalcogen precursor solution, followed by heating at 40 to 120° C.
Further, another aspect of the present invention provides an infrared device comprising the non-stoichiometric quantum dot nanoparticles.
According to the present invention, an infrared device which emits infrared rays, particularly, mid-infrared rays or far-infrared rays, by using the electron transition between discrete energy levels in the band of quantum dots.
Further, the non-stoichiometric quantum dots are prepared by containing nonthiol ligands so that as compared with thiol ligands of the related art, ligand substitution is very easy while maintaining the n-type doping of quantum dots.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.
The present invention provides non-stoichiometric quantum dot nanoparticles which comprise quantum dot cores and nonthiol ligands bonded to the core and emit infrared rays from electron transition between discrete energy levels in the band.
The quantum dot is a nano-sized semiconductor substance and exhibits quantum confinement effect. When the quantum dot absorbs the light from an excitation source to reach an energy excited state, the quantum dot emits energy corresponding to an energy band gap of the quantum dot. Therefore, when the size of the quantum dot is controlled, an energy band gap is controlled so that the light from an ultraviolet region to a near-infrared region may be emitted. However, it is very difficult to emit infrared rays, particularly, mid-infrared rays or far-infrared rays due to a large band gap of the quantum dot.
The quantum dot nanoparticle according to the present invention may emit infrared rays of a specific wavelength, particularly, mid-infrared rays and far-infrared rays, through electron transition between discrete energy levels in a band, rather than electron transition between band gaps.
The nonthiol ligands may be bonded to 1 mol of the core at a molar ratio of 1 to 100.
Further, the energy level state of the quantum dot may be S, P, or D and desirably, may be IS, IP, or ID or higher.
When the size of the quantum dot is controlled, an interval of the discrete energy levels in the band may be controlled.
The discrete energy levels in the band are composed of an energy level filled with electrons and an energy level where electrons are emptied. In this case, when light higher than a gap of the above-described energy levels is applied, the electrons accept the light energy to be excited and leave holes in the place where the electrons escape. In this case, the electrons and the holes are bonded again to generate infrared rays, particularly mid-infrared rays or far-infrared rays.
An average diameter of the quantum dots may be 1 to 20 nm and desirably, may be 3 to 15 nm. In this size, thermal stability and luminous efficiency may be maximized.
Further, as the size of the quantum dot is increased, an infrared ray having a smaller wavenumber may be emitted from the electron transition between the discrete energy levels in the band. According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a quantum dot having an average size of 17 to 19 nm exhibits an absorbance spectrum of approximately 800 to 1100 cm−1 and a quantum dot having an average size of 4 to 6 nm exhibits an absorbance spectrum of approximately 2100 to 2400 cm−1.
The infrared ray may be a mid-infrared ray or far-infrared ray.
The quantum dot may comprise cores and organic or inorganic ligands bonded to the core.
The quantum dot cores may comprise a II-VI group semiconductor compound, a III-V group semiconductor compound, a IV-VI group semiconductor compound, a IV group element or compound, or a combination thereof. Specifically, the quantum dot cores may be CdS, CdSe, CdTe, ZnS, ZnSe, ZnTe, ZnO, HgS, HgSe, HgTe, CdSeS, CdSeTe, CdSTe, ZnSeS, ZnSeTe, ZnSTe, HgSeS, HgSeTe, HgSTe, CdZnS, CdZnSe, CdZnTe, CdHgS, CdHgSe, CdHgTe, HgZnS, HgZnSe, CdHgZnTe, CdZnSeS, CdZnSeTe, CdZnSTe, CdHgSeS, CdHgSeTe, CdHgSTe, HgZnSeS, HgZnSeTe, HgZnSTe; GaN, GaP, GaAs, GaSb, AlN, AlP, AlAs, AlSb, InN, InP, InAs, InSb, GaNP, GaNAs, GaNSb, GaPAs, GaPSb, AlNP, AlNAs, AlNSb, AlPAs, AlPSb, InNP, InNAs, InNSb, InPAs, InPSb, GaAlNP, GaAlNAs, GaAlNSb, GaAlPAs, GaAlPSb, GaInNP, GaInNAs, GaInNSb, GaInPAs, GaInPSb, InAlNP, InAlNAs, InAlNSb, InAlPAs, InAlPSb; SnS, SnSe, SnTe, PbS, PbSe, PbTe, SnSeS, SnSeTe, SnSTe, PbSeS, PbSeTe, PbSTe, SnPbS, SnPbSe, SnPbTe, SnPbSSe, SnPbSeTe, SnPbSTe; Si, Ge, SiC, or SiGe.
The quantum dot cores may be mercury chalcogen nanoparticles and the mercury chalcogen may be HgS, HgSe, or HgTe.
The ligand refers to a substance which is bonded to the nanocrystals so as not to aggregate the quantum dots to be fixed and stabilized. Further, the nonthiol ligand is a ligand which does not contain a thiol-group and refers to an organic or inorganic ligand which is bonded to the inorganic center, other than thiol. The choroidal quantum dot which is stabilized by a thiol organic ligand of the related art has a disadvantage in that the ligand substitution for photoelectronic applications such as photodetectors and solar cells is not easy. Therefore, when the nonthiol ligand, particularly, oleic acid or oleylamine is used, it has the advantage of maintaining the n-type doping of quantum dots and simultaneously facilitating ligand substitution.
Specifically, the thiol ligands may be oleic acid, oleylamine, trioctylphosphine (TOP), trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO), octylamine, trioctyl amine, hexadecylamine, hexylphosphonic acid (HPA), tetradecylphosphonic acid (TDPA), octylphosphinic acid (CPA), and desirably may be oleic acid or oleylamine, but is not limited thereto.
Further, the present invention relates to a producing method of non-stoichiometric colloidal quantum dot nanoparticles comprising (1) a step of preparing a mercury (Hg) precursor solution by heating a mixture of a mercury (Hg) precursor and nonthiol ligands at 100 to 150° C.; and (2) a step of mixing the mercury (Hg) precursor solution and the chalcogen precursor solution, followed by heating at 40 to 120° C.
The producing method may further comprise a step of irradiating light to the non-stoichiometric colloidal quantum dots.
The step (1) is a step of preparing the mercury precursor solution by reacting the mercury (Hg) precursor with nonthiol ligands.
As a quantum dot synthesizing method, vapor deposition methods such as a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are used to prepare the quantum dots or a chemical wet method which adds a precursor material to a solvent to grow crystals. According to the chemical wet method, when the crystals are grown, the solvent is naturally coordinated on a quantum dot crystal surface to be served as a dispersant to control the growth of the crystal. Therefore, according to the chemical wet method, uniformity of the size and the shape of the nanoparticles may be controlled by easier and cheaper processes than that of the metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Further, the quantum dots prepared by the chemical wet process are not used as the undiluted solution and a predetermined ligand is coordinated around the quantum dots for stabilization or convenience of use of the quantum dots.
Specifically, the nonthiol ligands may be oleic acid, oleylamine, trioctylphosphine (TOP), trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO), octylamine, trioctyl amine, hexadecylamine, hexylphosphonic acid (HPA), tetradecylphosphonic acid (TDPA), octylphosphinic acid (OPA), and desirably may be oleic acid or oleylamine, but is not limited thereto.
The nonthiol ligands may be used at a molar ratio of 1 to 100 with respect to 1 mol of mercury (Hg). Therefore, when the used amount is less than 1 mol, the fixing effect of the quantum dots after the synthesis of the quantum dots is markedly deteriorated. As a result, the quantum effect is lost due to aggregation of the quantum dots in the solution and the effect of adding the ligand is reduced by half. Further, when the used amount exceeds 100 mol, the quantum dots may be re-aggregated due to the lowering of solubility.
Such a reaction is performed by a method which is widely known in the field of the present invention. In the present invention, the reaction may be performed under a reaction condition at 100 to 150° C. for 0.5 to 1.5 hours. When the reaction is performed out of the above condition, a solubility of a raw material is lowered or a solvent is evaporated so that a yield of the quantum dots is lowered. Therefore, it is desirable to maintain the above range.
In step (2), the mercury (Hg) precursor solution and chalcogen precursor solution are mixed and then heated at 40 to 120° C. to produce a colloidal quantum dot. As the chalcogen, S, Se, or Te is desirably used.
The chalcogen is dissolved using a high boiling solvent, and a boiling point of the solvent is maintained in the range of 200 to 350° C. When the boiling point of the solution is lower than 200° C., the solubility of the chalcogen is low and the boiling point of the solution exceeds 350° C., it is not easy to select a solvent. The solvent may be octadecene, octadecylamine, hexadecene, pentadecene, tetradecene, octadecadiene, hexadecadiene tetradecadiene, phenylether, paraffin, oleic acid, or hexadecene, but s not limited thereto.
The chalcogen may be mixed at a molar ratio of 1 to 10, preferably 1 to 5, with respect to 1 mol of the mercury (Hg) metal. When the used amount of the chalcogen is lower than 1 mol, a yield of quantum dot is lowered and a characteristic of emitting in-band transition infrared ray having a specific wavelength is not exhibited. When the amount exceeds 5 mol, an amount of unreacted chalcogen is increased. However, the use of a little excess of chalcogen is advantageous for non-stoichiometric quantum dot synthesis which emits infrared rays, so that it is penetrable to maintain the above range.
In this case, the reaction is performed at 10 to 250° C., desirably, at 40 to 120° C. which is significantly lower than 300 to 350° C. which is a quantum dot preparing temperature of the related art. However, when the reaction temperature is lower than 40° C., the quantum dot is not prepared and the reaction temperature exceeds 120° C., the quantum dot is excessively grown so that the quantum effect cannot be achieved.
Further, the present invention relates to an infrared device comprising the non-stoichiometric quantum dot nanoparticles.
The infrared device may be used for a device which emits infrared rays, particularly mid-infrared rays or far-infrared rays. Specifically, the infrared device may be an infrared camera, an infrared detector, an infrared therapy device, an infrared communication device, an infrared solar cell, an infrared LED, an infrared laser, a gas sensor, or an infrared color filter, but is not limited thereto.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments will be suggested for better understanding of the present invention. However, the following embodiments are provided only for more understanding the present invention, and thus the present invention is not limited thereto.
A mercury (Hg) precursor solution was prepared by dissolving 550 mg (2 mmol) of HgCl2 in 16 ml (48 mmol) of oleylamine and then being dehydrated in vacuum and heated at approximately 120° C. for one hour.
Simultaneously, a sulfur (S) precursor solution was prepared in another container by dissolving 0.57 nmol of thioacetamide or bis (trimethylsilyl) sulfide in octadecene or octadecylamine.
Thereafter, the mercury (Hg) precursor solution and the sulfur (S) precursor solution were mixed and the mixture was heated at approximately 60° C. In this case, the reaction time was controlled to 32 minutes to adjust a size of the prepared quantum dot to be 3.7 nm. HgS quantum dots were prepared by injecting 10 ml of a nonpolar solvent of tetrachloroethylene or chloroform containing oleylamine into the reaction mixture and cooling to room temperature using cooling water to terminate the reaction.
HgS quantum dots having various sizes were prepared by using the same method as Example 1-1 and adjusting used amounts of HgCl2, oleylamine, and sulfur precursor and reaction temperatures and times as represented in Table 1.
HgSe quantum dots were prepared by the same method as Example 1 except that a selenium (Se) precursor was used instead of the sulfur (S) precursor in Example 1.
HgTe quantum dots were prepared by the same method as Example 1 except that a tellurium (Te) precursor was used instead of the sulfur (S) precursor in Example 1.
An intensity of infrared fluorescence emitted from the quantum dot by irradiating ultraviolet, visible or infrared light sources to the HgS, HgSe or HgTe quantum dots prepared in Examples 1 to 3.
An infrared device which reversibly controls a transmittance of a specific wavelength in accordance with an applied voltage was manufactured by coating the HgS, HgSe, or HgTe quantum dots prepared in Examples 1 to 3 on a chrome electrode in the form of a film. In this case, in order to apply the voltage to the quantum dots, the oleylamine ligand was substituted with a ligand in which a length of carbon is short and an electrolyte was 0.1 M tetrabutylammonium perchlorate. The transmittance of a specific wavelength was controlled by measuring the amount of change of the light reflected after interaction of the light incident on the voltage-applied quantum dot film and the substance.
Characteristic Analysis
Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images and size distributions of HgS quantum dots having average sizes of 3.7 nm, 4.2 nm, 5.6 nm, 5.7 nm, 8.5 nm, 13.4 nm, 15.1 nm, and 18.2 nm which were prepared by the methods of Examples 1-1 to 1-8 were illustrated in
All the prepared HgS quantum dots form nanocrystals. In the case of a quantum dot having an average size of 18.2 nm, a size distribution was 8.7 to 33.8 nm and a standard deviation was 4.0 nm and in the case of a quantum dot having an average size of 3.7 nm, a size distribution was 2.2 to 6.1 nm and a standard deviation was 0.7 nm.
As illustrated in the FT-IR absorbance spectrum (see
As illustrated in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum (see
An atomic content ratio of the quantum dots prepared by the method of Example 1 was measured by using a PHI X-tool system (ULVAC-PHI) and an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) using monochromatic Al Kα X-ray as an excitation source.
It was confirmed that the atomic content of Hg in the element constituting the HgS quantum dot having the average size of 2.3 nm prepared by the method of Example 1-14 was 1.65 times higher than the atomic content of S. (see
Further, it was confirmed that the atomic content of Hg of the HgS quantum dot having the average size of 4.5 mn prepared by the method of Examples 1-15 and 1-16 was 1.56 to 1.67 times higher than the atomic content of S. (see
Further, it was confirmed that the atomic content of Hg of the HgS quantum dot having the average size of 4.9 nm prepared by the method of Example 1-17 was 2.15 times higher than the atomic content of S. (see
Further, it was confirmed that the atomic content of Hg of the HgS quantum dot having the average size of 5.6 nm prepared by the method of Example 1-18 was 1.44 times higher than the atomic content of S. (see
An electric signal of infrared fluorescence of a quantum dot film generated by irradiating a laser light source of a visible ray region to the HgS quantum dot prepared by the method of Example 1 was measured using an MCT detector (see
The HgS quantum dots prepared by the method of Example 1 was stably dispersed in a non-polar solvent. An excess ligand to be substituted was added to the colloidal quantum dot, stirred for about 15 minutes, and the ligand-substituted quantum dots were separated by centrifrigation.
Substitutable organic ligands may be oleic acid, mercaptopropionic acid (MPA), cysteamine, mercaptoacetic acid, trioctylphosphine (TOP), trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO), octylamine, trioctyl amine, hexadecylamine, octanethiol, dodecanethiol, hexylphosphonic acid (HPA), tetradecylphosphonic acid (TDPA), or octylphosphinic acid (OPA) and FTIR and 1H NMR after substituting with trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) and dodecanethiol were measured and spectra thoseof were compared (see
In
The HgS quantum dots prepared by the method of Example 1 were stably dispersed in a non-polar solvent. Thereafter, an excess of the inorganic ligand to be substituted was added to a polar solvent (n-methylformamide solution and deionized water) and then stirred with the non-polar solvent phase for 15 minutes to 1 day. After the quantum dots present in the nonpolar solvent were shifted to the polar solvent phase, stirring was stopped and the quantum dots were separated by centrifugation.
A substitutable inorganic ligand may be a halogenide (Cl—, Br—, I—) and a cyanide (SCN—), but the FTIR and 1H NMR after substitution with chloride ion (Cl−) were measured to compare spectra thoseof (See
It was confirmed that the nonthiol ligand HgS quantum dots dispersed in the non-polar solvent (octane) were phase-shifted to a polar solvent (NMF) by the inorganic ligand substation (see
After forming a quantum dot film by heavily doping the HgS quantum dots prepared by the method of Example 1 on a CaF2 or ZnS, or ZnSe window, 2% solution of ammonium sulfide was applied on a partial area of the surface of the film to remove the heavy doping and measured with an optical microscope (see
In
As electrons fill the upper level of the quantum dots, the characteristic of the quantum dots become more similar to the metal plasmons. Therefore, the change between the semiconductor and the metal in the nanomaterial may be measured optically (FTIR) and magnetically (EPR).
The change between the semiconductor and the metal in the nanomaterial was measured while filling electron doping in the HgS quantum dots prepared by the method of Example 1. Upper-level electron transition (1Pe-1De) of the heavily doped HgS quantum dot was observed by consistently irradiating infrared rays on a nonthiol ligand quantum dot film formed on a surface of gold Au.
It was confirmed that an upper-level P-D transition may be formed in accordance with the thickness of the film through the optical microscope image (see illustration of
Reversible change of the specific wavelength transmittance was measured by applying various voltages to at device manufactured by the method of Exam pie 4.
When a negative voltage of 0 to −1.5 V was applied to the quantum dot film, the transmittance near 2500 cm−1 of the absorbance spectrum was lowered and shifted to a low wavelength region (see
As described above, the present invention has been described through Examples. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention as described above may be implemented into other specific forms without departing from the technical spirit thereof or essential characteristics. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described examples are illustrative, but are not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present invention is represented by the claims to be described below rather than the detailed description, and it is to be interpreted that the meaning and scope of the claims and all the changes or modified forms derived from the equivalents thereof come within the scope of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2016-0040301 | Apr 2016 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2017/003566 | 3/31/2017 | WO | 00 |
