Self-quenched growth of monodisperse SnO2 nanocrystals—insensitive to synthesis conditions
Abstract
Metal oxide thin film fabrication from colloidal nanocrystal dispersions separates the materials synthesis from the device (layer) fabrication, enabling fast solution processing. However, nanocrystal ink syntheses can be still too complex to be truly scalable for large-area ultra-lowcost applications such as solar modules. Here, we present a self-quenched (by precipitation) nanocrystal synthesis at room temperature. The synthesis is independent of the precursor concentrations, precursor addition speed (injection vs. slow addition), mixing dynamics of the solutions, reaction duration, and temperature. Crystalline and monodisperse tin(IV) oxide nanocrystals (<3 nm diameter) are obtained with a near-unity reaction yield. After purification, the nanocrystal surface is modified with acetate ligands and brought into a colloidal dispersion, again with near-unity yield. Nip perovskite solar cells containing tin oxide nanocrystal thin films 2 achieve power conversion efficiencies of at least 21%. This method introduces a highly scalable SnO2 nanocrystal ink synthesis, which may be applicable to other metal oxides for coating technologies such as displays, windows, and perovskite solar modules, as well as the deposition on polymer films.
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BibTeX
@misc{lu2026selfquenched,
title = {{Self-quenched growth of monodisperse SnO2 nanocrystals—insensitive to synthesis conditions}},
author = {Yongli Lu and Meng-Chen Shih and Shaun Tan and Yu-Kuan Lin and Moungi Bawendi and Matthias J. Grotevent},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010022/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010022/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Self-quenched growth of monodisperse SnO2 nanocrystals—insensitive to synthesis conditions
AU - Yongli Lu
AU - Meng-Chen Shih
AU - Shaun Tan
AU - Yu-Kuan Lin
AU - Moungi Bawendi
AU - Matthias J. Grotevent
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010022/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010022/v1
AB - Metal oxide thin film fabrication from colloidal nanocrystal dispersions separates the materials synthesis from the device (layer) fabrication, enabling fast solution processing. However, nanocrystal ink syntheses can be still too complex to be truly scalable for large-area ultra-lowcost applications such as solar modules. Here, we present a self-quenched (by precipitation) nanocrystal synthesis at room temperature. The synthesis is independent of the precursor concentrations, precursor addition speed (injection vs. slow addition), mixing dynamics of the solutions, reaction duration, and temperature. Crystalline and monodisperse tin(IV) oxide nanocrystals (<3 nm diameter) are obtained with a near-unity reaction yield. After purification, the nanocrystal surface is modified with acetate ligands and brought into a colloidal dispersion, again with near-unity yield. Nip perovskite solar cells containing tin oxide nanocrystal thin films 2 achieve power conversion efficiencies of at least 21%. This method introduces a highly scalable SnO2 nanocrystal ink synthesis, which may be applicable to other metal oxides for coating technologies such as displays, windows, and perovskite solar modules, as well as the deposition on polymer films.
ER -