Design and Synthesis of Colloidal Nanocrystal Heterostructures with Tetrapod Morphology

Pod people: Tetrapod-shaped ZnTe/CdSe and ZnTe/CdS heterostructure nanocrystals (see image, left and right, respectively) are prepared by a novel synthetic route. The tetrapod arms are grown on the ZnTe cores by alternating injections of Cd and Se/S precursors at intermediate temperatures in the presence of oleylamine ligands. The formation of the tetrapod heterostructures proceeds from slightly anisotropic core/shell to pyramidal to tetrapod-shaped heterostructures.