The purpose of this thesis is to outline the research undertaken into the synthesis of metal chalcogenide nanomaterials followed by their behavior of in diverse thermodynamic conditions. This thesis will focus on the research of novel routes to metal chalcogenides, especially CdS, PbS and PbSe. An effort was made in order to improve existing techniques by combining knowledge from diverse fields. Instabilities in nanoparticles and related behaviors, e.g. tendency to grow in specific shapes, aggregate and coalesce, were the other focusing point of this thesis. This thesis is divided into five main chapters. The first chapter introduces nanomaterials and their potential applications. An emphasis is made on the synthetic techniques to nanomaterials and their properties. Chapter two describes the synthetic approaches that were investigated during this work. Soft-hydrothermal and microwave-assisted hydrothermal routes to nanoparticles will be described. Chapter three focuses on the formation of stable nano-shapes different than the bulk-shape for PbS and PbSe nanocrystals. Their ability to self-organise on an amorphous substrate is also presented. Chapter four describes the research undertaken by transmission electron microscopy, on the coalescence of nanocrystals. Chapter five contains detailed descriptions of the experiments that were involved during this work. A general conclusion is then followed by appendixes that contain extra-information related to this thesis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:498780 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Berhanu, Deborah |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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