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Template synthesis of silver indium sulfide based nanocrystals performed through cation exchange in organic and aqueous media

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Abstract

Heavy-metal-free silver based I-III-VI semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs), including ternary silver indium sulfide (AgInS2) and derivative quaternary silver indium zinc sulfide (i.e., AgInZn2S4) NCs, possess advantages of low toxicity, and size-tunable band gaps approaching near-infrared spectral range, which make them candidates for use in optoelectronic and biological devices. Herein, we report syntheses of AgInS2 based NCs starting from In2S3 template, which have been performed both in organic and aqueous phase through cation exchange. As a result, ternary silver indium sulfide and quaternary silver indium zinc sulfide NCs are obtained in both organic and aqueous media, and confirmed to be orthorhombic AgInS2 NCs and hexagonal AgInZn2S4 NCs, respectively. Furthermore, the aqueous AgInZn2S4 NCs with red emission and low cytotoxicity are explored for the cancer cell imaging.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. Haizheng Zhong for useful discussions. This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2017YFB1002900), the Natural Science Foundation of Youth Fund Project of China (No. 51602024), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2157015), the Talent Introduction Plan of Overseas Top Ranking Professors by the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs (No. MSBJLG040), and the Germany/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme sponsored by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong and the German Academic Exchange Service (No. G-CityU106/18).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Na Gao, Rubo Zhang & Xiaoling Zhang

  2. School of Optics and Photonics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Bingkun Chen

  3. School of Life Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Jinfeng Zhang

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Centre for Functional Photonics (CFP), City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Bingkun Chen & Andrey L. Rogach

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  1. Na Gao
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Template synthesis of silver indium sulfide based nanocrystals performed through cation exchange in organic and aqueous media

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Gao, N., Zhang, R., Chen, B. et al. Template synthesis of silver indium sulfide based nanocrystals performed through cation exchange in organic and aqueous media. Nano Res. 14, 2321–2329 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3229-3

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