A simple metalorganic route to organically passivated mercury telluride nanocrystals

Nanocrystalline HgE (E = S, Se, Te) particles are an important class of materials that may have applications in the opto-electronics industry, notably as potential replacements for rare-earth dopants in optical fibers or in opto-electronic modulators. Organometallic routes to nanoparticles can produce materials of a superior quality, but often require highly toxic precursors, such as metal alkyls. We report here, for the first time, a simple route to organically passivated HgTe nanoparticles, which avoids the use of compounds such as dimethylmercury. This method can be used to prepare a wide range of HgE nanomaterials.