Mono-alkyl Phosphinic Acids as Ligands in Nanocrystal Synthesis

Abstract

Surfactants play a crucial role in the synthesis of colloidal nanocrystals. Nevertheless, only a handful molecules are currently used, oleic acid being the most typical example. Here, we show that mono-alkyl phosphinic acids are an interesting surfactant class with a reactivity that is intermediate between carboxylic acids and phosphonic acids. We first present the synthesis of n-hexyl, 2-ethylhexyl, n-tetradecyl, n-octadecyl, and oleyl phosphinic acid. These compounds are suitable surfactants during high-temperature nanocrystal synthesis (240-300°C). In contrast to phosphonic acids, they do not form poly anhydride gels. Consequently, CdSe quantum dots synthesized with octadecylphosphinic acid are conveniently purified, and are free from background scattering in UV-Vis. The CdSe nanocrystals have a very low polydispersity and a photoluminescence quantum yield up to 18%, without additional shell. Furthermore, we could synthesize CdSe and CdS nanorods using phosphinic acid ligands and found a remarkable purity (i.e. without tetrapod impurities). We conclude that the reactivity towards TOP-S and TOP-Se precursors decreases in the series: cadmium carboxylate > cadmium phosphinate > cadmium phosphonate. By introducing a third and intermediate class of surfactants, we enhance the versatility of surfactant-assisted syntheses.