Calcination does not remove all carbon from colloidal nanocrystal assemblies

Pratyasha Mohapatra, Santosh Shaw, Deyny Mendivelso-Perez, Jonathan M. Bobbitt, Tiago F. Silva, Fabian Naab, Bin Yuan, Xinchun Tian, Emily A. Smith and Ludovico Cademartiri ()
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Pratyasha Mohapatra: Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Santosh Shaw: Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Deyny Mendivelso-Perez: Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Jonathan M. Bobbitt: Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Tiago F. Silva: Instituto de Física da Universidade de São Paulo
Fabian Naab: Michigan Ion Beam Laboratory, University of Michigan
Bin Yuan: Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Xinchun Tian: Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Emily A. Smith: Iowa State University of Science and Technology
Ludovico Cademartiri: Iowa State University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Removing organics from hybrid nanostructures is a crucial step in many bottom-up materials fabrication approaches. It is usually assumed that calcination is an effective solution to this problem, especially for thin films. This assumption has led to its application in thousands of papers. We here show that this general assumption is incorrect by using a relevant and highly controlled model system consisting of thin films of ligand-capped ZrO2 nanocrystals. After calcination at 800 °C for 12 h, while Raman spectroscopy fails to detect the ligands after calcination, elastic backscattering spectrometry characterization demonstrates that ~18% of the original carbon atoms are still present in the film. By comparison plasma processing successfully removes the ligands. Our growth kinetic analysis shows that the calcined materials have significantly different interfacial properties than the plasma-processed counterparts. Calcination is not a reliable strategy for the production of single-phase all-inorganic materials from colloidal nanoparticles.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02267-9

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