Anisotropic formation and distribution of stacking faults in II-VI semiconductor nanorods

Steven M Hughes; A Paul Alivisatos

doi:10.1021/nl3036417

Anisotropic formation and distribution of stacking faults in II-VI semiconductor nanorods

Nano Lett. 2013 Jan 9;13(1):106-10. doi: 10.1021/nl3036417. Epub 2012 Dec 21.

Authors

Steven M Hughes¹, A Paul Alivisatos

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. hughess2@whitman.edu

PMID: 23252712
DOI: 10.1021/nl3036417

Abstract

Nanocrystals of cadmium selenide exhibit a form of polytypism with stable forms in both the wurtzite and zinc blende crystal structures. As a result, wurtzite nanorods of cadmium selenide tend to form stacking faults of zinc blende along the c-axis. These faults were found to preferentially form during the growth of the (001) face, which accounts for 40% of the rod's total length. Since II-VI semiconductor nanorods lack inversion symmetry along the c-axis of the particle, the two ends of the nanorod may be identified by this anisotropic distribution of faults.