A selenium-based “alkahest”: reactive dissolutions of metals and metal compounds with n -alkylammonium polyselenide solutions

• Published in: Inorganic chemistry frontiers Vol. 10; no. 20; pp. 6032 - 6044
• Main Authors: Turnley, Jonathan W., Deshmukh, Swapnil D., Boulos, Victoria M., Spilker, Robert, Breckner, Christian J., Ng, Kevin, Liu, Judy Kuan-Yu, Miller, Jeffrey T., Kenttämaa, Hilkka I., Agrawal, Rakesh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Royal Society of Chemistry 10.10.2023; Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
• Subjects: Chalcogenides; Copper indium gallium selenides; Copper zinc tin selenide; Inorganic chemistry; Metal compounds; Metal sulfides; Nanoparticles; Selenium; Semiconductor devices; Synthesis; Thin films
• ISSN: 2052-1553; 2052-1545; 2052-1553
• DOI: 10.1039/D3QI01632C

The solution-processing of metal chalcogenides offers a promising route to improve the manufacturing of semiconductor devices. The amine–thiol solvent system has been deemed an “alkahest” for its ability to dissolve a wide range of metals and metal chalcogenides. Therefore, it enables convenient synthesis of metal sulfides. However, in the literature there are limited reports of analogous selenium-based “alkahest” chemistry. Here we show that solutions containing n -alkylammonium polyselenides can dissolve a wide range of metals and metal compounds through the formation of soluble metal polyselenides. These metal polyselenides can subsequently be utilized as precursors for the synthesis of a wide range of binary and multinary metal selenide thin films and nanoparticles, including Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 , Cu 2 ZnSnSe 4 , and Ag 2 ZnSnSe 4 .