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Nonthermal Plasma Synthesis of Nanocrystals: Fundamentals, Applications, and Future Research Needs

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Abstract

Nonthermal plasma synthesis has emerged as a viable alternative to nanocrystal synthesis in the liquid phase or by other gas phase based methods. The nonequilibrium environment containing free charge carriers enables the synthesis of nanocrystals with excellent crystallinity and narrow size distributions. This paper reviews the fundamental mechanisms involved in the synthesis of nanocrystals with nonthermal plasmas. It discusses the luminescent properties of plasma-produced silicon nanocrystals and their application in devices such as light emitting diodes. The ability of plasma synthesis to generate doped nanocrystals is a particularly appealing attribute. We present boron and phosphorous doped silicon nanocrystals and review their applications as near infrared plasmonic materials. Finally, the author presents his view of some important research needs in the area of nonthermal plasma synthesis of nanocrystals.

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Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to his present and former students and postdoctoral researchers, whose work has been discussed in this paper. Specifically, this paper touched on the work of Professors Lorenzo Mangolini, Zachary Holman, Rebecca Anthony, Elijah Thimsen; Doctors David Rowe, Nicolaas Kramer, Ryan Gresback, Kai-Yuan Cheng; Ms. Katelyn Schramke, and Mr. Benjamin Greenberg. The author’s work discussed in this paper was supported by the University of Minnesota MRSEC under Award Number DMR-0819885 and DMR-1420013, the DOE Plasma Science Center for Control of Plasma Kinetics, the DOE Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics, and by the Army Office of Research under MURI Grant W911NF-12-1-0407.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Uwe Kortshagen

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  1. Uwe Kortshagen
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Correspondence to Uwe Kortshagen.

Additional information

This paper is not intended to be a comprehensive review. As a summary of an invited lecture, the paper has a natural bias towards the work done by the author’s research group. This should not be interpreted as a lack of the author’s respect for or awareness of the excellent work done by other researchers.

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Kortshagen, U. Nonthermal Plasma Synthesis of Nanocrystals: Fundamentals, Applications, and Future Research Needs. Plasma Chem Plasma Process 36, 73–84 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-015-9663-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-015-9663-4

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