Polysulfide ligand exchange on zinc sulfide nanocrystal surfaces for improved film formation

The physical and chemical properties of nanocrystals can be modified by changing the ligands attached at their surfaces. A ligand exchange procedure with ammonium polysulfides has been developed to replace the native ligands on cubic zinc sulfide nanocrystals. Several mixtures of polysulfides in formamide and other solvents were prepared with different average chain lengths and used to achieve high yield ligand exchange, as confirmed by UV-vis spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that polysulfide content can be increased with longer surface ligands and that the exchange process yields compositionally pure surfaces before and after high temperature anneals. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy show that, when annealed in nitrogen at 525 degrees C, polysulfide ligands lead to average crystal sizes 2-3 times larger than in the un-exchanged control sample. The ligand exchange procedure itself does not alter nanocrystal size. Nanocrystal inks prepared from the exchanged samples form thin films that exhibit superior grain growth, morphology, mass retention, and composition compared to the un-exchanged material. Overall, polysulfide species are demonstrated as alternative ligands for the surfaces of metal chalcogenide nanocrystals which, when incorporated in an efficient ligand-exchange procedure, can improve the quality of ZnS nanocrystal inks. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.