The controlled synthesis of narrow bandgap nanocrystals (NCs) is highly important scientific and technological issue. The lead chalcogenides have showed a good performance in various applications, but practical applications using these materials have been hindered due to the high toxicity of lead. Recently, tin chalcogenides have been considered as the promising alternative for narrow bandgap materials because of its low toxicity and earth-abundance. Among tin chalcogenides, SnTe is a direct bandgap semiconductor (0.18 eV at 300 K), thus it is most promising material with infrared optical activity. Here, we present the facile solution-phase synthesis of SnTe NCs and their corresponding core/shell NCs. we synthesized monodisperse and highly crystallline SnTe NCs by employing a cheap and less toxic precursor and a reducing agent to enhance low reactivity of precursors. Moreover, we developed a synthetic procedure for the synthesis of SnTe-based core/shell NCs by combining the cation exchange and the Kirkendall effect.
