System and method for making quantum dots

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10301543-B2
Application number	US-201415025918-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2014
Priority date	Oct 4, 2013
Publication date	May 28, 2019
Grant date	May 28, 2019

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide for methods of making quantum dots (QDs) (passivated or unpassivated) using a continuous flow process, systems for making QDs using a continuous flow process, and the like. In one or more embodiments, the QDs produced using embodiments of the present disclosure can be used in solar photovoltaic cells, bio-imaging, IR emitters, or LEDs.

First claim

We claim at least the following:

1. A method of forming a quantum dot (QD), comprising: a) mixing a solution A comprising solutes of precursor A with a solution B comprising solutes of precursor B to form solution C; b) flowing solution C into a nucleating coil to produce QD seeds by nucleating solution C at a first temperature; and c) flowing solution C including the QD seeds into a growth coil to grow the QDs at a second temperature, wherein b) and c) are independently performed, wherein the first temperature and the second temperature are different, and wherein solutions A and B further comprise an inert immiscible fluid.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: d) introducing the QDs from c) to a solution; and e) flowing the mixture of QDs and the solution of step d) through a final loop, wherein b), c), d), and e) are independently performed.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first temperature is about 110 to 130° C. and the second temperature is about 70 to 90° C.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the solution of step d) is a solution including a component selected from the group consisting of: CdCl 2 , TBAI, tetrabutylammonium bromide, tetrabutylammonium chloride, inorganic halides, pseudohalides, halometallate ligands, and a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inert immiscible fluid is a fluorinated fluid.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the QD is a PbS QD passivated with CdCl 2 or TBAI.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the QD is a PbS QD passivated with a component selected from the group consisting of: tetrabutylammonium bromide, tetrabutylammonium chloride, inorganic halides, pseudohalides, halometallate ligands, and a combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , where the QD is CuInS.

9. The method of claim 1 , where the QD is CuInS and passivated with CdCl 2 or TBAI.

10. The method of claim 1 , where the QD is CoS or Co 2 S 3 .

11. The method of claim 1 , where the QD is CoS or Co 2 S 3 and passivated with CdCl 2 or TBAI.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the steps are performed in a continuous flow process.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein step a) is performed in a mixing chip.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises flowing QDs grown in the growth coil into a third coil and passivating the QDs using a halide or cadmium treatment.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises preparing precursor A.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises preparing precursor B.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein preparing precursor A comprises mixing lead(II) oxide, 1-octadecene, and oleic acid and preparing precursor B comprises mixing bis(trimethylsilyl) sulfide and 1-octadecene.

18. The method of claim 5 , wherein the fluoridated fluid is perfluorotripentylamine (C 15 F 33 N), perfluorotrihexylamine (C 18 F 39 N), or a combination thereof.

Assignees

• Univ King Abdullah Sci & Tech

Inventors

• Bakr Osman M
• Pan Jun
• El-Ballouli Ala'A
• Knudsen Kristian Rahbek
• Abdelhady Ahmed L

Classifications

• H10P14/3461

  Nanoparticles · CPC title

• H10P14/3436

  being chalcogenide semiconductor materials not being oxides, e.g. ternary compounds · CPC title

• H10P14/265 Primary

  using solutions · CPC title

• B01J2219/0086

  Dimensions of the flow channels · CPC title

• B01J2219/00833

  Plastic · CPC title