Tumbling of Quantum Dots: Rheo-Optics.

Linear flow dichroism is shown to be a powerful tool to characterize the hydrodynamic dimensions of extremely small nonspherical colloids in solution. Dispersions of prolate and oblate quantum dots (QDs) are employed to investigate the validity of flow dichroism as a characterization tool. Shape-anisotropic QDs are important from an application perspective, where it is necessary to have a good knowledge of their hydrodynamic dimensions to predict and control their orientation during solution processing.

Synthesis of metal selenide colloidal nanocrystals by the hot injection of selenium powder.

We describe the synthesis of metal selenide nanocrystals, including CdSe, ZnSe, CuInSe2 and Cu2(Zn,Sn)Se4, by the hot injection of selenium powder dispersed in a carrier solvent. Since this results in a fast and high yield nanocrystal formation, we argue that the approach is well suited for the low cost, large volume production of nanocrystals.