Systematic Study of Chalcogenide Nanostructured Gels

Nanomaterials are materials with physical dimensions in the range of 1-100 nm. The properties and behaviors of nanomaterials are strongly dependent on their size and shape, in contrast to their bulk counterparts and to individual atoms or molecules. Accordingly, the synthesis of new nanoparticles and the study of their size and shape dependent properties have received considerable attention from the materials community and become the subject of considerable research. Beyond the study of discrete nanoparticles, the ability to assemble nanoparticles into functional structures is also an important challenge for full realization of the potential benefits of nanotechnology. This is because most of the devices will not be in solution or single-particle based, but will be formed from nanoparticle assemblies in the solid state, in which the unique properties of the nano building blocks are retained. Over the past several years, the Brock lab has developed a general methodology to effectively assemble metal chalcogenide nanoparticles into porous aerogel frameworks.