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Reversible electrochemical injection of discrete numbers of electrons into sterically stabilized silicon nanocrystals (NCs) (~2 to 4 nanometers in diameter) was observed by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) in N,N'-dimethylformamide and acetonitrile. The electrochemical gap between the onset of electron injection and hole injection-related to the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals--grew with decreasing nanocrystal size, and the DPV peak potentials above the onset for electron injection roughly correspond to expected Coulomb blockade or quantized double-layer charging energies. Electron transfer reactions between positively and negatively charged nanocrystals (or between charged nanocrystals and molecular redox-active coreactants) occurred that led to electron and hole annihilation, producing visible Light. The electrogenerated chemiluminescence spectra exhibited a peak maximum at 640 nanometers, a significant red shift from the photoluminescence maximum (420 nanometers) of the same silicon NC solution. These results demonstrate that the chemical stability of silicon NCs could enable their use as redox-active macromolecular species with the combined optical and charging properties of semiconductor quantum dots., In a bulk semiconductor, electrons and holes move freely throughout the crystal. However, in a nanocrystal, confinement of the electrons and holes leads to a variety of optical and electronic [...]

A detailed study of association between monolayer protected clusters (MPCs) and base electrolyte ions is presented. MPC redox properties are investigated using electro analytical techniques and it is found that the results are consistent with electrostatic charging of a metallic core.

Research developing new methods of electrochemical processes of cadmium sulphides in semiconductor nanoparticles is presented. Particular attention is given to reactions pertaining to the correlations between electrochemical and optical band gaps.