Engineering strength, porosity, and emission intensity of nanostructured CdSe networks by altering the building-block shape.

The effect of primary particle shape on the porosity, mechanical strength, and luminescence intensity of metal chalcogenide aerogels was probed by comparison of CdSe aerogels prepared from spherical and rod-shaped particles. Rod-shaped particles yield aerogels with polymeric morphologies in contrast to the colloidal morphology obtained from spherical particles. Relative to the colloidal analogues, the polymeric CdSe aerogels exhibit twice the surface area, a doubling of the complex viscosity for 5 wt % aerogel-PDMS composites, and a 25-fold increase in emission intensity. Altering the shape of the building block from which nanostructured networks are assembled is an effective way to tune the basic properties of metal chalcogenide semiconducting aerogels.