Optoelectronics: goodbye cadmium, hello zinc oxide?

An Irig team, working alongside Polish researchers*, has successfully synthesized and characterized controlled-thickness, highly stable, nanometric zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoplatelets. These nanoplatelets may offer an alternative to classic cadmium chalcogenide 2D nanostructures in optoelectronics. Cadmium chalcogenide is toxic and rare, and its use is tightly regulated by a European directive.

Irig researchers studied 2D ZnO nanoplatelets using dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), a high-sensitivity NMR technique. They showed that the benzamidine ligands used in synthesis distribute across all faces of ZnO crystals, limiting the dimensions of each crystal and contributing to the stability of the nanoplatelets.

*Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw)

Contact: gael.depaepe@cea.fr

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