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Updated: Oct 21, 2025

Facet-to-facet Linking of Shape-anisotropic Colloidal Cadmium Chalcogenide Nanostructures
Published on: August 10, 2017
Theoretical analysis of structures and electronic spectra of molecular colloidal cadmium sulfide clusters and
Kiet A Nguyen1, Ruth Pachter1, Paul N Day1
1Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433, USA.
Abstract:
In the present study, we systematically examine structures and absorption spectra for CdS nanoplatelets (NPLs) with thicknesses of two and three monolayers (2 MLs and 3 MLs) and extended lateral dimensions. These nanoplatelet model systems, passivated with formate and acetate ligands, are used to analyze the effects of quantum confinement in the lateral dimension within an extended monolayer and the effects of thickness when changing from two to three monolayers. Based on the computed cubic structures using density functional theory (DFT), we found good agreement between observed and time-dependent DFT-calculated spectra, revealing little ligand participation to influence the color and intensity of low-energy absorption bands as the structures are laterally extended to eight and seven monolayers for 2-ML and 3-ML systems, respectively. The spectral redshift for 3-ML CdS NPLs is attributed to the electron delocalization due to expansion of the nanoplatelet in the lateral and vertical directions.
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