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Versatile synthesis of yolk/shell hybrid nanocrystals via ion-exchange reactions for novel metal/semiconductor and semiconductor/semiconductor conformations

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Abstract

Yolk/shell (Y–S) hybrid nanoarchitectures, owing to the interior voids created for individualized catalyst applications, have emerged as new candidates for effectively isolating catalytic species. However, the well-defined hollow interiors with flexible core and shell compositions—such as noble-metal cores, metal-oxide cores, and widespread semiconductor shells—and a flexible anisotropic shape are far from the requirements. In particular, the introduction of catalytic noble metals or metal-oxide nanocrystals (NCs) with isotropic or anisotropic shapes into various hollow semiconductor structures with well-defined morphologies has been rarely reported but is urgently needed. Herein, we propose a strategy involving the careful sulfuration of as-prepared cavity-free core/shell NCs or metal-oxide NCs followed by phosphine-initialized cation-exchange reactions for preparing metal@semiconductor and metal oxide@semiconductor (II-VI) Y–S NCs. The geometry, size, and conformations of the core and shell are fully and independently considered. New and unprecendented metal@semiconductor and metal oxide@semiconductor (II-VI) Y–S NCs are prepared via widespread phosphine-initialized cation-exchange reactions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21322105, 91323301, 51631001, 51372025, and 51501010).

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  1. Muwei Ji and Xinyuan Li contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Construction Tailorable Advanced Functional Materials and Green Applications, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

    Muwei Ji, Xinyuan Li, Hongzhi Wang, Liu Huang, Meng Xu, Jia Liu, Jiajia Liu & Jiatao Zhang

  2. Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Muwei Ji & Jin Wang

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  1. Muwei Ji
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Versatile synthesis of yolk/shell hybrid nanocrystals via ion-exchange reactions for novel metal/semiconductor and semiconductor/semiconductor conformations

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Ji, M., Li, X., Wang, H. et al. Versatile synthesis of yolk/shell hybrid nanocrystals via ion-exchange reactions for novel metal/semiconductor and semiconductor/semiconductor conformations. Nano Res. 10, 2977–2987 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1508-4

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