Call for Papers

Please contact the symposium organizers with questions.

Group IV nanostructures such as silicon and germanium nanocrystals have potential applications in optoelectronics, biomedicine and emerging quantum technologies . This symposium will focus on the role of colloidal carbon, silicon and germanium nanostructures as earth-abundant, non-toxic, electronically and optically active solution-processable counterparts of the corresponding bulk materials. The first part of this symposium will focus on the synthesis and characterization of solution-processable group IV nanoparticles or quantum dots, concerning crystallinity, size, doping and shape control. Surface functionalization methods for these group IV nanostructures adapted from synthetic organic chemistry and surface modification of flat silicon wafers and porous silicon are of interest. The second part of this symposium will focus on correlating the physical properties of these group IV nanostructures to the behavior of their excited states by time-resolved measurements, e.g. optical characterization of electronic states. Of interest are excitonic states that result from efforts to dope these group IV nanostructures, increase the absorption cross-section of these indirect-gap nanomaterials, and control the luminescence quantum yields and emission wavelengths. Symposium contributions can also address the potential hybridization between organic or inorganic additives to the group VI nanostructures for the creation of new electronic states. Contributions focusing on the modelling of group IV nanostructures (MD, DFT, or other ab-initio techniques) are of interest. Finally, this symposium solicits abstracts on the applications of these group VI nanostructures in various technologically important fields such as optoelectronics, biomedicine and quantum technologies. Silicon or germanium quantum dots have found use in photon upconversion, singlet fission, solar concentrators, thin-film transistors, light emitting diodes, photodetectors, optoelectronic synaptic devices and quantum processes (qubits, quantum transducers, nanoscale magnetic sensors, etc). Discussion of synthetic mechanisms, surface functionalization methods, device fabrication techniques and methods to enhance potential quantum applications or otherwise, are welcome.

Topics will include:

• Colloidal synthesis of quantum-confined group IV nanostructures
• Doping/ surface functionalization of group IV nanocrystals
• Role of interfaces in energy and charge transport
• Photon upconversion/ singlet fission utilizing molecular and group IV excitons
• Exciton- charge dynamics in hybrid systems based on group IV nanostructures
• Computational methods describing excitonic group IV nanostructures
• Devices (e.g. transistors, photodetectors, light-emitting diodes, solar cells and artificial synapses) based on group IV nanostructures
• Emerging applications (e.g. biosensing, photocatalysis, neuromorphic and quantum computing)

Invited Speakers (tentative):

• Mita Dasog (Dalhousie University, Canada)
• Joel Eaves (University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
• Vivian Ferry (University of Minnesota, USA)
• Giulia Galli (The University of Chicago, USA)
• Susan Kauzlarich (University of California, Davis, USA)
• Brian Korgel (The University of Texas at Austin, USA)
• Uwe Kortshagen (University of Minnesota, USA)
• Benjamin Levine (Stony Brook University, The State University of New York, USA)
• Cheng Li (Xiamen University, China)
• Nathan Neale (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA)
• Sean Roberts (The University of Texas at Austin, USA)
• Rich Schaller (Northwestern University, USA)
• Hiroshi Sugimoto (Kobe University, Japan)
• Ilya Sychugov (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
• Andrew Teplyakov (University of Delaware, USA)
• Jonathan Veinot (University of Alberta, Canada)
• Pan Xia (University of Toronto, Canada)
• Han Zuilhof (Wageningen University, Netherlands)

Symposium Organizers