New symmetric families of silicon quantum dots and their conglomerates as a tunable source of photoluminescence in nanodevices

Avramov, Pavel V.; Fedorov, Dmitri G.; Sorokin, Pavel B.; Chernozatonskii, Leonid A.; Gordon, Mark S.

New symmetric families of silicon quantum dots and their conglomerates as a tunable source of photoluminescence in nanodevices

Authors

Avramov, Pavel V.

Fedorov, Dmitri G.

Sorokin, Pavel B.

Chernozatonskii, Leonid A.

Gordon, Mark S.

Description

We propose a new variety of silicon quantum dots containing fullerene-derived hollows of nearly arbitrary symmetry. Conglomerate structures are designed by connecting the quantum dots through two kinds of junctions. The quantum confinement effect is investigated using semiempirical quantum-mechanical method. It is shown that within each family of quantum dots, the band gap and the stability are inversely proportional to the particle effective size. Quantum dots inherit a wide variety of structural and symmetry properties from their parent fullerenes. The conglomerates confine electrons like quasi-molecules with a peculiar electronic structure related to the junctions. Quantum dots and their conglomerates can host guest atoms in their hollows and therefore present a new promising type of tunable photoluminescent nanomaterials.
19 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables