dc.rights.license | CC-BY-NC-ND | |
dc.contributor.advisor | Vanmaekelbergh, Prof. dr. D. | |
dc.contributor.author | Hutter, E.M. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2014-09-09T17:00:55Z | |
dc.date.available | 2014-09-09T17:00:55Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2014 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/18191 | |
dc.description.abstract | In this thesis, 1D and 2D anisotropic semiconductor nanocrystals are coated with silica in a reverse microemulsion to obtain water-soluble nanoparticles that are protected towards oxidation and photo-degradation. An extensive study on the effect of ammonia (which plays a catalytic role in the silica shell formation) on the resulting silica shell leads to a versatile method that can be widely used to coat anisotropic nanocrystals with a uniform and size-tunable silica shell. Furthermore, modification steps are explored to use these silica-coated semiconductor nanocrystals as building blocks for long-range liquid crystals, better known as plastic crystals. In this respect, it is essential to obtain long-range interparticle repulsion, which can be achieved by charge-stabilization of the nanoparticles. Therefore, the silica-coated nanocrystals are functionalized with an organic ligand and consequently transferred to a nonpolar solvent. The challenge however remains to measure these nanometer-sized objects when these are dispersed in a liquid medium, which is needed to detect plastic crystal phases. | |
dc.description.sponsorship | Utrecht University | |
dc.format.extent | 4320368 | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en | |
dc.title | Silica-coated Anisotropic Semiconductor Nanocrystals as Building Blocks for Plastic Crystals | |
dc.type.content | Master Thesis | |
dc.rights.accessrights | Open Access | |
dc.subject.keywords | anisotropic semiconductor nanocrystals, silica coating, reverse microemulsion method, nanohelices, plastic crystal | |
dc.subject.courseuu | Nanomaterials: Chemistry and Physics | |