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Quantification of Elemental Distribution in Spherical Core-Shell Nanoparticles Measured by STEM-EDX

Quantum dots exhibit many interesting and useful size-dependent optoelectronic properties and are used extensively in fields ranging from optical displays to biological imaging. By adding shell structures to these quantum dots, many properties may be improved, including mitigation of surface effects, reduction in blinking, and control of spacing between deposited particles. Alternatively, core/shell structures can be fabricated to create various types of band alignment between the core and shell materials: one example is type-II confinement, which has been studied systems such as Ge/Si and CdTe/CdSe core/shell particles. The optical properties of these systems are affected by the quality of the interface between the two materials. As such, interfacial broadening between the core and shell is an important parameter to measure and control in these systems. This elemental distribution, while important, has proven to be difficult to accurately assess. In this study, we use plasma-grown spherical Ge/Si core/shell nanoparticles as a test case for scanning transmission electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray (STEM-EDX) analysis of the core/shell elemental distribution.