Fabrication of Noble metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures using phase transfer

An easy and effective solution based procedure for the synthesis of noble metal (both Au and Ag) tipped semiconductor nanomaterials is demonstrated where the metal precursors are taken in water and the semiconductors in organic medium, exploiting the phase transfer and reducing capability of suitably chosen ligands. The phase tranfer route is a generalised approach to form either Ag or Au tips on cadmium chalcogenide nanoparticles and nanorods. While multiple dots of noble metals are formed on the semiconductor nanomaterials initially, these coalesce into larger islands with time. The hybrids are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A detailed FTIR analysis was also carried out to delineate the role of the ligands in the synthesis. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]