Recent developments in colloidal synthesis of CuInSe2 nanoparticles

Abstract

Ternary semiconductor nanocrystals, such as CuInSe2, are of high interest for photovoltaic application due to their relatively low toxicity and unique properties. During the last decades great success has been achieved in the colloidal synthesis of binary nanoparticles, but for ternary compounds this research is still in an early stage of development. These materials are a challenge for synthetic chemistry, because the interaction between the three components (copper, indium, and selenium) plays a major role for the production of high quality material. The purpose of this Minireview is to provide a summary of the achievements in colloidal synthesis of CuInSe2 nanoparticles - in particular, details of reaction mechanism and its characterization possibilities, which might be useful also for the colloidal synthesis of other multicomponent systems. How to synthesize CuInSe2 nanocrystals: The progress in the colloidal synthesis and size and shape control of semiconductor CuInSe2 nanoparticles and the advances in the understanding of the underlying reaction mechanisms are reported in this Minireview. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.