GR/T12286/01 Quantum Confinement of Tan5 | University of Southampton

Project overview

Tantalum(V) nitride, Ta3N5, has been investigated in recent years as a non-toxic equivalent material to cadmium selenide for pigments. Like cadmium selenide it also works as a photocatalyst in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Cadmium selenide has been the most popular material for studying size quantisation in semiconductors and cadmium chalcogenide nanoparticles are of great interest as sensitizers for photovoltaic cells and optical probes in applications from biometrics to security tagging.We propose to make Ta3N5 nanoparticles of contolled size, study their properties and develop processing techniques. To achieve this we will utilise a variety of solution-phase synthesis techniques including direct injection, solution phase metathetical and sol-gel approches. Particles will be self capping with an oxide layer, capped with coordinating organics or polymer coated.We will then apply the methods developed with this known material to make mixed transition metal nitride nanoparticles and other, entirely novel, intrinsically semiconducting transition metal nitride materials.

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor Andrew Hector

Head of School

Research interests

Materials synthesis, including metal nitrides, thin film materials, sol-gel and solvothermal …
Materials characterisation – powder and thin film diffraction, microscopy and spectroscopy te…
Electrochemistry, including charge storage in battery and supercapacitor type cells, and elec…

Connect with Andrew

Email: A.L.Hector@soton.ac.uk

Research outputs

Solvothermal synthesis of group 5 and 6 nitrides via reactions using LiNH2 and ammonia nitrogen sources

Pietro Chirico, Andrew L. Hector & Baishakhi Mazumder, 2010, Dalton Transactions, 39, 6092-6097

DOI: 10.1039/c0dt00120a

Type: article

Template infiltration routes to ordered macroporous TiN and SiNxFilms

Benjamin M. Gray, Shereen Hassan, Andrew L. Hector, Ali Kalaji & Baishakhi Mazumder, 2009, Chemistry of Materials, 21(18), 4210-4215

DOI: 10.1021/cm900753f

Type: article

Solution phase preparative routes to nitride morphologies of interest in catalysis

Baishakhi Mazumder & Andrew L. Hector, 2009, Topics in Catalysis, 52(11), 1472-1481

DOI: 10.1007/s11244-009-9298-x

Type: article

Synthesis and applications of nanocrystalline nitride materials

Baishakhi Mazumder & Andrew L. Hector, 2009, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 19(27), 4673-4686

DOI: 10.1039/b817407e

Type: article

Direct solvothermal synthesis of early transition metal nitrides

Baishakhi Mazumder, Pietro Chirico & Andrew L. Hector, 2008, Inorganic Chemistry, 47(20), 9684-9690

DOI: 10.1021/ic800767m

Type: article

Use of low temperature solvothermal reactions in the synthesis of nanocrystalline tantalum nitrides including nanorods

Baishakhi Mazumder & Andrew L. Hector, 2008, Journal of Materials Chemistry, 18(12), 1392-1398

DOI: 10.1039/b717723b

Type: article