Synthesis and Characterization of PbSe Nanocrystals by a Microchannel Reactor

The synthesis of high-quality monodispersed nanocrystal is very important. Typical synthetic method is rapid nucleation by injection of an organometallic precursor into a solvent maintaining the reaction temperature. Since these methods are discontinuous processes, they are not efficient for large-scale production of monodisperse nanocrystals. In this study, continuous microchannel reaction technique is presented for synthesis of monodisperse lead selenide nanocrystals in a diphenyl ether as high-temperature organic media. The microchannel reactor was used due to its possibility of continuous process and reproducibility of narrow size distribution in nanocrystal synthesis. The synthesis was carried out in microchannel reactor (800 μm diameter) made from PTFE. Lead oleate and TOP-Se were used as organic precursor and diphenyl ether as high-temperature organic solvents. Lead selenide particles with a size of less than 10nm could be continuously prepared by this method. The nanocrystals have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, TEM and optical absorption spectrometer.