Optical spectroscopy: Advancing nano-material research with wet-chemical synthesis
The ability to create and construct material at scales around 1 nm to 100 nm has given rise to a new class of nanomaterials with unique properties. These properties can be exploited in a variety of commercial settings, ranging from construction (e.g., stronger concrete) to catalysis (e.g., enhanced melting), through to improved sensors (e.g., Raman, gases) and better-targeted therapeutics (drug delivery systems).
In this webinar, join Dr. Enrico Della Gaspera, senior lecturer and ARC DECRA Fellow at RMIT University and Travis Burt, global product manager at Agilent Technologies to find out more about wet-chemical synthesis - a versatile approach for controlling the purity, surface chemistry, and microstructure of nanomaterials using tailored reaction chemistries and processing conditions. Gaspera will explain how this approach enables us to move away from vacuum-based processes, and therefore reduce the cost and improve the scalability of nanomaterials and related devices.
The webinar will also cover:
- Overview of recent solution-based approaches to synthesize semiconducting nanostructures for applications in optoelectronics.
- Synthesis and applications of colloidal nanocrystals, focusing on highly doped plasmonic oxides, wide bandgap sulfide quantum dots, and two-dimensional (2D) oxide nanosheets for UVA and UVB photodetectors.
- Fabrication of thin films directly from chemical precursors, including conductive and semiconductive ZnO films using an aqueous bath and SnO2 via ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. Results on semi-transparent perovskite solar cells will be also shown.
- Examination of spectrophotometry as a tool in the characterization of other types of nanoscale materials, due to its probe wavelengths being of similar size to a nanomaterial’s features.
- Broad examples in the fields of sustainable energy and biomedical therapeutics, including a naturally evolved nanoscale material - dragonfly wings – will be shared.
Key learning objectives
- Wet chemical synthesis of nanomaterials as a powerful tool to precisely control morphology, structure, chemical composition, and functional properties of inorganic semiconductors
- Potential to move away from bulky, expensive, and slow vacuum depositions using simple spraying or printing methods to deposit thin-film coatings for optoelectronics
- Importance of precise, reliable, and meaningful optical measurements when analyzing nanomaterials to extract correct optical properties (such as absorption coefficient and light scattering, etc.)
Who should attend?
- Laboratory managers
- Chromatographers
- New product developers
- Postdoc, staff scientist, validation QA/QC
- Researchers within the diverse field of nanomaterials; academics, postgrads