• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.1169-1176
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• 2014

In this study, water-dispersible ZnS:Mn nanocrystals were synthesized by capping the surface with conventional and simple structured amino acid ligands: $\small{L}$-Glycine and $\small{L}$-Alanine. The ZnS:Mn-Gly and ZnS:Mn-Ala nanocrystal powders were characterized by XRD, HR-TEM, EDXS, ICP-AES, and FT-IR spectroscopy. The optical properties were measured by UV-Visible and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The PL spectra for the ZnS:Mn-Gly and ZnS:Mn-Ala showed broad emission peaks at 599 nm and 607 nm with PL efficiencies of 6.5% and 7.8%, respectively. The measured average particle size from the HR-TEM images were $6.4{\pm}0.8$ nm (ZnS:Mn-Gly) and $4.1{\pm}0.5$ nm (ZnS:Mn-Ala), which were also supported by Debye-Scherrer calculations. In addition, the degree of aggregation of the nanocrystals in aqueous solutions were measured by a hydrodynamic light scattering method, which showed formation of sub-micrometer size aggregates for both ZnS:Mn-Gly ($273{\pm}94$ nm) and ZnS:Mn-Ala ($233{\pm}34$ nm) in water due to the intermolecular attraction between the capping amino acids molecules. Finally, the cytotoxic effects of ZnS:Mn-Gly and ZnS:Mn-Ala nanocrsystals over the growth of wild type E. coli were investigated. As a result, no toxicity was shown for the ZnS:Mn-Gly nanocrystal in the colloidal concentration region from 1 ${\mu}g/mL$ to 1000 ${\mu}g/mL$, while ZnS:Mn-Ala showed significant toxicity at 100 ${\mu}g/mL$.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.271-275
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• 2015

Colloidal semiconductor CdSe-ZnS core-shell nanocrystal quantum dot (Qdot) are luminescent inorganic fluorophores that show potential to overcome some of the functional limitations encountered with organic dyes in fluorescence labeling applications. Salmonella Enteritidis has emerged as a major cause of human salmonellosis worldwide since the 1980s. A rapid, specific, and sensitive method for the detection of Salmonella Enteritidis was developed using Qdot as a fluorescence marker coupled with immunomagnetic separation. Magnetic beads coated with anti-Salmonella Enteritidis antibodies were employed to selectively capture the target bacteria, and biotin-conjugated anti-Salmonella antibodies were added to form sandwich immune complexes. After magnetic separation, the immune complexes were labeled with Qdot via biotin-streptavidin conjugation, and fluorescence measurement was carried out using a fluorescence measurement system. The detection limit of the Qdot method was a Salmonella Enteritidis concentration of $10^3$ colony-forming units (CFU)/mL, whereas the conventional fluorescein isothiocyanate-based method required over $10^5CFU/mL$. The total detection time was within 2 h. In addition to the potential for general nanotechnology development, these results suggest a new rapid detection method of various pathogenic bacteria from a complex food matrix.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.189-189
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• 2012

Lead sulfide (PbS) nanocrystal quantum dots (NQDs) are promising materials for various optoelectronic devices, especially solar cells, because of their tunability of the optical band-gap controlled by adjusting the diameter of NQDs. PbS is a IV-VI semiconductor enabling infrared-absorption and it can be synthesized using solution process methods. A wide choice of the diameter of PbS NQDs is also a benefit to achieve the quantum confinement regime due to its large Bohr exciton radius (20 nm). To exploit these desirable properties, many research groups have intensively studied to apply for the photovoltaic devices. There are several essential requirements to fabricate the efficient NQDs-based solar cell. First of all, highly confined PbS QDs should be synthesized resulting in a narrow peak with a small full width-half maximum value at the first exciton transition observed in UV-Vis absorbance and photoluminescence spectra. In other words, the size-uniformity of NQDs ought to secure under 5%. Second, PbS NQDs should be assembled carefully in order to enhance the electronic coupling between adjacent NQDs by controlling the inter-QDs distance. Finally, appropriate structure for the photovoltaic device is the key issue to extract the photo-generated carriers from light-absorbing layer in solar cell. In this step, workfunction and Fermi energy difference could be precisely considered for Schottky and hetero junction device, respectively. In this presentation, we introduce the strategy to obtain high performance solar cell fabricated using PbS NQDs below the size of the Bohr radius. The PbS NQDs with various diameters were synthesized using methods established by Hines with a few modifications. PbS NQDs solids were assembled using layer-by-layer spin-coating method. Subsequent ligand-exchange was carried out using 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT) to reduce inter-NQDs distance. Finally, Schottky junction solar cells were fabricated on ITO-coated glass and 150 nm-thick Al was deposited on the top of PbS NQDs solids as a top electrode using thermal evaporation technique. To evaluate the solar cell performance, current-voltage (I-V) measurement were performed under AM 1.5G solar spectrum at 1 sun intensity. As a result, we could achieve the power conversion efficiency of 3.33% at Schottky junction solar cell. This result indicates that high performance solar cell is successfully fabricated by optimizing the all steps as mentioned above in this work.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.14-19
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• 2013

We have successfully synthesized $Bi_{4-x}La_xTi_3O_{12}$ (x~2) having Aurivillius-type layered perovskite structure from exfoliated layered perovskite oxide of $K_2La_2Ti_3O_{10}$ with Ruddlesden-Popper structure. The reaction between the exfoliated lanthanum titanate nanosheets and BiOCl nanocrystal resulted in the formation of polycrystalline $Bi_{4-x}La_xTi_3O_{12}$ (x~2) after heating above $700^{\circ}C$. Colloidal suspension of the nanosheets could be obtained by intercalating ethylamine (EA) into the protonated lanthanum titanate, $H_2La_2Ti_3O_{10}$, derived from $K_2La_2Ti_3O_{10}$. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) analysis show that the exfoliated lanthanium titanate nanosheets have a thickness of a few nano meters. According to X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, the exfoliated lanthanium titanate was found to be transformed into $Bi_{4-x}La_xTi_3O_{12}$ (x~2) after restacking with BiOCl and subsequent thermal treatment at > $700^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.677-682
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• 2009

ZnS:Mn/ZnS core-shell quantum dots (QDs), were synthesized via a thermal decomposition reaction of organometallic precursors in a hot solvent mixture. The synthetic conditions of the quantum dots were monitored at various reaction temperatures for the core formation, while the shell formation temperature was fixed at 135$^{\circ}C$. The obtained colloidal nanocrystals at corresponding temperatures were characterized by UV-Vis, solution photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopies, and further obtained powders were characterized by XRD, HR-TEM, and EDXS analyses. The synthetic temperature condition to obtain the best PL emission intensity for the core-shell QD was 135$^{\circ}C$, for both core and shell formation. At this temperature, solution PL spectrum showed a narrow emission peak at 583 nm with a relative PL quantum efficiency of 42.15%. In addition, the measured spherical particle sizes for the ZnS:Mn/ZnS nanocrystals via HR-TEM were in the range of 4.0 to 5.4 nm, while ellipsoidal particles were obtained at 150$^{\circ}C$.