@article{21321,
  abstract     = {The development of cost-effective and high-performance thermoelectric (TE) materials faces significant challenges, particularly in improving the properties of promising copper-based TE materials such as Cu3SbSe4, which are limited by their poor electrical conductivity. This study presents a detailed comparative analysis of three strategies to promote the electrical transport properties of Cu3SbSe4 through Sn doping: conventional Sn atomic doping, surface treatment with SnSe molecular complexes, and blending with SnSe nanocrystals to form nanocomposites, all followed by annealing and hot pressing under identical conditions. Our results reveal that a surface treatment using SnSe molecular complexes significantly enhances TE performance over atomic doping and nanocomposite formation, achieving a power factor of 1.1 mW·m−1·K−2 and a maximum dimensionless figure of merit zT value of 0.80 at 640 K, representing an excellent performance among Cu3SbSe4-based materials produced via solution-processing methods. This work highlights the effectiveness of surface engineering in optimizing the transport properties of nanostructured materials, demonstrating the versatility and cost-efficiency of solution-based technologies in the development of advanced nanostructured materials for application in the field of TE among others.},
  author       = {Xiao, Shanshan and Zhao, Mingjun and Li, Mingquan and Wan, Shanhong and Genç, Aziz and Huang, Lulu and Chen, Lei and Zhang, Yu and Ibáñez, Maria and Lim, Khak Ho and Hong, Min and Liu, Yu and Cabot, Andreu},
  issn         = {1998-0000},
  journal      = {Nano Research},
  number       = {1},
  publisher    = {Tsinghua University Press},
  title        = {{Band and defect engineering in solution-processed nanocrystal building blocks to promote transport properties in nanomaterials: The case of thermoelectric Cu            <sub>3</sub>SbSe            <sub>4</sub>}},
  doi          = {10.26599/nr.2025.94907072},
  volume       = {18},
  year         = {2025},
}

@article{10587,
  abstract     = {Access to a blossoming library of colloidal nanomaterials provides building blocks for complex assembled materials. The journey to bring these prospects to fruition stands to benefit from the application of advanced processing methods. Epitaxially connected nanocrystal (or quantum dot) superlattices present a captivating model system for mesocrystals with intriguing emergent properties. The conventional processing approach to creating these materials involves assembling and attaching the constituent nanocrystals at the interface between two immiscible fluids. Processing small liquid volumes of the colloidal nanocrystal solution involves several complexities arising from the concurrent spreading, evaporation, assembly, and attachment. The ability of inkjet printers to deliver small (typically picoliter) liquid volumes with precise positioning is attractive to advance fundamental insights into the processing science, and thereby potentially enable new routes to incorporate the epitaxially connected superlattices into technology platforms. In this study, we identified the processing window of opportunity, including nanocrystal ink formulation and printing approach to enable delivery of colloidal nanocrystals from an inkjet nozzle onto the surface of a sessile droplet of the immiscible subphase. We demonstrate how inkjet printing can be scaled-down to enable the fabrication of epitaxially connected superlattices on patterned sub-millimeter droplets. We anticipate that insights from this work will spur on future advances to enable more mechanistic insights into the assembly processes and new avenues to create high-fidelity superlattices.},
  author       = {Balazs, Daniel and Erkan, N. Deniz and Quien, Michelle and Hanrath, Tobias},
  issn         = {1998-0000},
  journal      = {Nano Research},
  keywords     = {interfacial assembly, colloidal nanocrystal, superlattice, inkjet printing},
  number       = {5},
  pages        = {4536–4543},
  publisher    = {Springer Nature},
  title        = {{Inkjet printing of epitaxially connected nanocrystal superlattices}},
  doi          = {10.1007/s12274-021-4022-7},
  volume       = {15},
  year         = {2022},
}