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University
of Chicago Postdoctoral Scholar Maksym Kovalenko
(left) working with nanocrystals in a glovebox in the laboratory of Dmitri
Talapin, assistant professor in Chemistry. Working in the environmentally
controlled conditions of the glovebox permits researchers to perform chemical
procedures not possible under room conditions.
Photos by Dan Dry. |
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Researchers at the University of Chicago
and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed an “electronic glue”
that could accelerate advances in semiconductor-based technologies, including
solar cells and thermoelectric devices that convert sunlight and waste heat,
respectively, into useful electrical energy.
Semiconductors have served as choice materials for many electronic and optical
devices because of their physical properties. Commercial solar cells, computer
chips and other semiconductor technologies typically use large semiconductor
crystals, but these are expensive and can make large-scale applications such as
rooftop solar-energy collectors prohibitive.
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| Dmitri Talapin is an assistant professor in Chemistry at the
University of Chicago. |
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As an alternative, engineers see great potential in
semiconductor nanocrystals that sometimes measure just a few hundred atoms
each. Nanocrystals can be readily mass-produced and used for device
manufacturing via inkjet printing and other solution-based processes. But a problem
remains: The crystals are unable to efficiently transfer their electric charges
to one another due to surface ligands — bulky, insulating organic molecules
that cap nanocrystals.
The “electronic glue” developed in Dmitri Talapin’s laboratory at the University of Chicago solves the ligand problem. The
team describes in the journal
Science how substituting the
insulating organic molecules with novel inorganic molecules dramatically
increases the electronic coupling between nanocrystals. The University of Chicago
licensed the underlying technology for thermoelectric applications to Evident Technologies
in February.
