Highly effective nanosegregation of dual dopants in a micron-sized nanocluster-based semiconductor molecular single crystal for targeting white-light emission

Chemically co-doping a micron-sized semiconductor single crystal while simultaneously segregating different dopant types uniformly on a nanoscale is synthetically challenging, but often essential for preventing unwanted dopant-related interference that may hamper optic and magnetic applications. Here by starting from a unique molecular crystal composed of well-defined discrete supertetrahedral chalcogenide nanoclusters (NCs), we successfully realized highly effective nanosegregation of dual dopants (Cu and Mn) in Cd-In-S semiconductor crystals. Our method takes advantage of the intrinsic single vacancy at the core of NC that permits the trapping of only one dopant ion. Such single-ion trapping effectively precludes two dopant ions from residing in the same NC, allowing us to target single-crystal white-light emitter by eliminating possible interference between dopants. This new method for controlling the distribution of multiple dopants on a nanoscale provides a promising route to modify and tune optical and magnetic properties of large-sized semiconductor single crystals for use in integrated multifunctional devices.