ACS Omega, 2018 · DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.8b02204 · Published: November 2, 2018
Copper nanoclusters were synthesized using L-cysteine, resulting in irregular structures. Introducing Ce3+ rearranged the aggregates into well-ordered three-dimensional nanomaterials with mesoporous sphere structures. These regulated products showed better stability and color purity for applications compared to irregular aggregates. The structures of the aggregates could be adjusted to a controllable form by tuning the amounts of Ce3+. Initially, the aggregates of L-cysteine-protected CuNCs were obtained with irregular structures. Light-emitting diodes were fabricated using powders of aggregated CuNCs. The mesoporous spheres (A-CuNCs-2) showed more promising performance than the irregular aggregates (A-CuNCs-1) for illumination.
The use of Ce3+ crosslinked CuNCs in LED devices leads to enhanced color purity and overall performance, making them more suitable for illumination applications.
The method provides a way to control the morphology of aggregated nanoclusters, opening up possibilities for designing nanomaterials with specific properties.
The crosslinking strategy can potentially be extended to regulate the morphology of other nanoclusters with protection ligands that have crosslinking abilities.