3/12/24, 7:12 PM ZnSe nanostructures: Synthesis, properties and applications - ScienceDirect
Progress in Materials Science
Volume 83, October 2016, Pages 472-535
ZnSe nanostructures: Synthesis, properties and
applications
Qi Zhang 1, Huiqiao Li 1, Ying Ma, Tianyou Zhai
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Abstract
As an important II–VI semiconductor, ZnSe is one of the first semiconductors discovered and is probably one of the
most important electronic and optoelectronic materials with prominent applications in nonlinear optical devices, flat
panel displays, light emitting diodes, lasers, logic gates, transistors, etc. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive
review of the state-of-the-art research activities that focus on the rational synthesis, novel properties and unique
applications of ZnSe nanostructures. We begin with a historical background of ZnSe, description of its structure,
chemical and electronic properties, and its unique advantages in specific potential applications. This is followed by a
survey of ZnSe nanostructures with various morphologies and their corresponding synthesis methods. Using various
facile methods or techniques, nanoparticles, nanowires, nanobelts/nanoribbons, nanosheets, nanotubes, core/shell
nanostructures, hierarchical nanostructures and heterostructures of ZnSe have been synthesized under specific growth
conditions so far. Then, we discuss the critical experiments determining the optical and electrical properties of the
nanostructures, as crucially they changes with synthetic conditions. Next, we highlight the recent achievements
regarding to the potential applications of ZnSe nanostructures in light emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers, field emitters,
photodetectors, sensors, photocatalysis, solar cells, vivo imaging, and so on. Finally, we conclude this review with some
perspectives and outlook on the future developments in this area. Overall, this comprehensive review presents a
systematic investigation on the controlled synthesis, novel properties and advanced applications of ZnSe
nanostructures.
Introduction
As an important II–VI semiconductor, zinc selenide (ZnSe) is one of the first semiconductors discovered and is probably
one of the most important electronic and optoelectronic materials with prominent applications in nonlinear optical
devices, flat panel displays, light emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers, logic gates, transistors, etc. Great interests on ZnSe
nanostructures have been stimulated recently due to their valuable potentials for both fundamental physical
researches and applications in constructing nanoscale electric and optoelectronic devices (Fig. 1).
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3/12/24, 7:12 PM ZnSe nanostructures: Synthesis, properties and applications - ScienceDirect
Nanostructured ZnO is known as one of the most popular optoelectronic materials in past several years due to their
structure richness, novel properties and advanced applications. Being of the closet fundamental physical properties
with ZnO, e.g. crystal structures, lattice constants, and so on, ZnSe nanostructures with prospective morphologies and
novel properties may rival the performances of ZnO. Thus, the researches on ZnSe nanostructures grow very rapidly in
the recent years, as illustrated in Fig. 1 that about one research paper is published in this field every 1–2 days. However,
compared to a large number of original manuscripts, there is only 1 short review on ZnSe colloidal nanocrystals have
been issued up now [1]. It is of great interest to review the research activities as well as the development progresses on
this material.
In the review article, we will provide a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art research activities that focus on
the rational synthesis, novel properties and unique applications of ZnSe nanostructures. We begin with a historical
background of ZnSe, description of its structure, chemical and electronic properties, and its unique advantages in
specific potential applications. This is followed by a survey of ZnSe nanostructures with various morphologies and their
corresponding synthesis methods. Using various facile methods or techniques, nanoparticles, nanowires,
nanobelts/nanoribbons, nanosheets, nanotubes, core/shell nanostructures, hierarchical nanostructures and
heterostructures of ZnSe have been synthesized under specific growth conditions so far. Subsequently, we will discuss
the critical experiments determining the optical and electrical properties of the nanostructures, as crucially they will
change with synthetic conditions. Next, we will highlight the recent achievements regarding to the potential
applications of ZnSe nanostructures in LEDs, lasers, field emitters, photodetectors, sensors, photocatalysis, solar cells,
vivo imaging, and so on, as shown in Fig. 2. Finally, we conclude this review with some perspectives and outlook on the
future developments in this area. Overall, this comprehensive review will present a systematic investigation of the
“synthesis-property-application” triangle for the diverse ZnSe nanostructures.
Section snippets
Fundamental properties of ZnSe
As one of binary octet semiconductors, ZnSe has two commonly available allotropes: cubic zinc-blende (ZB) and the
hexagonal wurtzite (W) structure, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The main differences lie in the relative handedness of the
fourth interatomic bond or in their dihedral conformations. Alternatively, ZB consists of tetrahedrally coordinated zinc
and selenium atoms stacked in the ABCABC pattern, while in W the same building blocks are stacked in the ABABAB
pattern. The lattice parameters…
Synthesis of ZnSe nanostructures
Nanostructures, especially zero-dimensional (0D) and one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures, have attracted steadily
growing interest due to their fascinating properties [7], [8] and well property–microstructure correlation.…
Luminescence properties
Luminescence is the generation of light. As pointed out in a recent review [174], light can be emitted via a number of
luminescent processes, which include cathodoluminescence (CL), photoluminescence (PL), electroluminescence (EL),
electrochemiluminescence (ECL) and thermoluminescence (TL). Table 5 lists typical types of luminescence and their
origins. In this section, we present some typical luminescence properties of ZnSe nanostructures.…
LEDs
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3/12/24, 7:12 PM ZnSe nanostructures: Synthesis, properties and applications - ScienceDirect
Solid-state lighting devices, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), are a promising alternative to incandescent bulbs and
fluorescent lamps, as they offer higher efficacy, lower power consumption, longer lifetime, and a faster response time.
Wide band gap nanostructures such as nanodots, nanorods, and nanowires are promising for the achievement of low
defects with potential applications in short wavelength optoelectronic device applications. Recently, there has been
similar research done for…
Conclusions and outlooks
In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review on the synthesis, novel properties and potential applications of ZnSe
nanostructures from 0D nanostructures, such as 0D nanocrystals, 0D core/shell nanocrystals and Doped 0D
nanocrystals and 1D nanostructures as nanowires, nanorods, nanotubes, nanobelts, nanoribbons, and nanobelts, to
complicated nanostructures including heterostructured nanostructures, core/shell nanostructures, doped 1D
nanostructures, alloyed 1D nanostructures, tetrapodal…
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21322106, 51472097, 51402114),
National Basic Research Program of China (2015CB932600), Program for HUST Interdisciplinary Innovation Team
(2015ZDTD038) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University. The authors are grateful to Prof. Y.
Bando and Prof. D. Golberg, National Institute for Materials Science, for their valuable discussions. The authors are
indebted for the kind permission from the…
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1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
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