Rachel

Rachel S. Selinsky
Graduate Student, Materials Chemistry
Department of Chemistry
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Biographical Sketch
B.A. Williams College, Chemistry and Studio Art, 2006
PhD University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006-Present

Research
My project involves the solution synthesis and characterization of PbSe, PbS, and EuS nanocrystals for device applications.   PbSe and PbS have been shown to potentially have quantum efficiencies much greater than 100% making them useful for photovoltaic applications.  In addition to high quantum efficiencies, due to quantum confinement the bandgaps of these materials can be easily tuned by changing the size of the particles.  A second target nanocrystalline material is EuS, an intrinsic magnetic semiconductor.  I have been developing and characterizing a library of single source euriopium dithiocarbamate precursors to control the quality, size, and morphology of EuS nanocrystals.

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Figure 1. TEM images of PbSe nanocrystals (left) and PbS nanocrystals (right)

Beyond these syntheses, goals include creating core/shell PbSe/EuS nanocrystals and modifying the physical properties of nanocrystals by manipulating their surfaces.  The nature of the ligands coating nanocrystals has been shown to strongly influence their magnetic and electronic properties as well as change their solubility.  I hope to study the effects of electron withdrawing and donating ligands on the magnetic properties of EuS nanocrystals and to use specially functionalized ligands to modify PbSe nanocrystals for biological applications.