Scalable nanomanufacturing of chalcogenide inks: a case study on thermoelectric V–VI nanoplates

Solution-processed semiconducting main-group chalcogenides (MMCs) have attracted increasing research interests for next-generation device technologies owing to their unique nanostructures and superior properties. To achieve the full potential of MMCs, the development of highly universal, scalable, and sustainable synthesis and processing methods of chalcogenide particles is thus becoming progressively more important. Here we studied the scalable factors for the synthesis of two-dimensional (2D) V–VI chalcogenides nanoplates (M2Q3: M=Sb, Bi; Q=Se, Te), and systematically investigated their colloidal behaviour and chemical stability. Based on a solvent engineering technique, we demonstrated scale-up syntheses of MMCs up to 900% increase of batch size compared with conventional hydrazine-based gram-level syntheses, and such scalable approach is highly applicable to various binary and tertiary MMCs. Furthermore, we studied the stability of printable chalcogenides nanoparticle inks with several formulation factors including solvents, additives, and pH values, resulting in inks with high chemical stability (>4 months). As a proof of concept, we applied our solution-processed chalcogenide particles to multiple additive manufacturing methods, confirming the high printability and processability of MMC inks. The ability to combine the top-down designing freedom of additive manufacturing with bottom-up scalable synthesis of chalcogenide particles promises great opportunities for large-scale design and manufacturing of chalcogenide-based functional devices for broad applications.