Book Description

This thesis focuses on different aspects of NCs colloidal synthesis, the exploration of the relevant surface chemistries that afford NC assembly and the NC implementation into porous nanomaterials. The work is divided into two blocks. The first block is devoted to developing and optimizing the synthesis of NCs followed by the examination of their suitability for potential applications in catalysis and photocatalysis. The second block is dedicated to establish procedures to fabricate single-component or multicomponent porous nanomaterials from NC building blocks. To embrace the use of the developed strategies in different application fields, several kind of materials were under research. Namely, metals (e.g. Au), metal oxides (e.g. CeO2, TiO2, Fe2O3), metal chalcogenides (e.g. In2S3, ZnS, PbS, CuGaS2 and Cu2ZnSnSe4), and their composites. CeO2 NCs synthesis was deeply investigated with the aim to achieve a proper control on the NCs morphology, facets exposed, crystal phase, composition, etc., required for application. Overall, CeO2 NCs with spherical, octapod-like branched, cubic hyperbranched, and kite-like morphology with sizes in the range 7 to 45 nm were produced by adjusting experimental conditions of the synthetic protocol. Branched and hyperbranched NCs showed higher surface areas, porosities and oxygen capacity storage values compared to quasi-spherical NCs. The NCs morphology-controlled synthesis has been extended to quaternary Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe). CZTSe NCs with narrow size distribution and controlled composition were produced. It was shown how off-stoichiometric CZTSe compositions were characterized by higher charge carrier concentrations and thus electrical conductivities. The strategy to functionalize the metal oxide NC surface composition by applying different ligands is proposed. This enables to develop a novel approach to assemble metal oxide NCs into porous gel and aerogel structures. Propylene oxide has been found to trigger the gelation process of glutamine functionalized NCs. The detailed investigation of the gelation mechanism is demonstrated for the case of ceria. The method is applied for NCs with different morphologies. Eventually, the versatility of the concept is proved by using of the proposed approach for the TiO2 and Fe2O3 nanocrystals. The assembly method has been extended to metal chalcogenides - In2S3 NCs - starting from the NCs synthesis, with further surface chemistry manipulation and eventually follows by the NC assembly into gels and aerogels. The optimization of NC surface chemistry was achieved by testing different ligand exchange approaches via applying short-chain organic and inorganic ligands. The assembly method based on ligand desorption from the NC surface and chalcogenide-chalcogenide bond formation has been established for In2S3. The comparison of the different ligands impact on the NC performance in colloidal form, when assembled into gels and when supported onto substrate is investigated towards photoelectrocatalysis. The oxidative ligand desorption assembly approach has been extended for multicomponent NCs for the case of CuGaS2 and CuGaS2-ZnS. Optimization of spin-coating process of the formed NCs inks followed by applying of sol-gel chemistry led to formation of highly porous layers from TGA-CuGaS2 and TGA-ZnS. Applied results of CuGaS2/ZnS nanocrystal-based bilayers and CuGaS2–ZnS nanocrystal-based composite layers have been shown by testing their photoelectrochemical energy conversion capabilities. The approach to adjust NC surface chemistry has been proposed and tested for performing multicomponent NC assemblies. Applying of different ligands for NC surface functionalization endows their surface with different charges which usually provides colloidal NCs stabilization. It has been found that mixing of oppositely charged NCs with certain concentration enabled their assembly/gelation via electrostatic interaction. The proposed approach has been applied and optimized to produce multicomponent NC gels and aerogels. The detailed investigation of the gelation mechanism is shown for combination of metal-metal oxide and metal oxide-metal chalcogenide NCs (Au-CeO2, CeO2-PbS). Applied results of the Au-CeO2 aerogels were demonstrated for CO-oxidation.