Dimensional crossover in semiconductor nanostructures

Recent advances in semiconductor nanostructure syntheses provide unprecedented control over electronic quantum confinement and have led to extensive investigations of their size- and shape-dependent optical/electrical properties. Notably, spectroscopic measurements show that optical bandgaps of one-dimensional CdSe nanowires are substantially (approximately 100 meV) lower than their zero-dimensional counterparts for equivalent diameters spanning 5–10 nm. But what, exactly, dictates the dimensional crossover of a semiconductor’s electronic structure? Here we probe the one-dimensional to zero-dimensional transition of CdSe using single nanowire/nanorod absorption spectroscopy. We find that carrier electrostatic interactions play a fundamental role in establishing dimensional crossover. Moreover, the critical length at which this transition occurs is governed by the aspect ratio-dependent interplay between carrier confinement and dielectric contrast/confinement energies. Nanostructured materials offer a route to tuning the bandgap of a semiconductor. Here, the authors use single particle absorption spectroscopy to investigate bandgap evolution between cadmium selenide nanowires and quantum dots and identify the length at which a nanorod becomes zero-dimensional.