Dear Rajesha,

Zero dimensional nanoparticles (0D NSMs) are not atoms.   The average diameter for 0D NSMs in the range from 8 nm to 20 nm. A significant progress has been made in the field of 0D NSMs. A rich variety of physical and chemical methods have been developed for fabricating 0D NMSs with well-controlled dimensions. Recently, 0D NSMs such as uniform particles arrays (quantum dots), heterogeneous particles arrays, core–shell quantum dots, onions, hollow spheres and nanolenses have been synthesized by several research groups.

Moreover, 0D NSMs, such as quantum dots has been extensively studied in light emitting diodes (LEDs), solar cells, single-electron transistors, and lasers.

The thermal evaporation technique is the facile and most widely used technique for the synthesis of 0D NSMs. More recently, Chang et al. employed the facile solid evaporation route to prepare the tungsten trioxide nanoparticles in high yield. Shen et al. used the thermal evaporation technique to synthesize both core/shell Ge/SiO2 and Ge/CdS nanospheres. These core/shell Ge/SiO2 and Ge/ CdS nanospheres were synthesized at 1250 C. After the thermal evaporation technique, the sputtering

method is another most widely used technique for the synthesis of 0D NSMs. Suzuki et al. reported a very clean method for synthesizing noble nanoparticles, such as Au, Ag, and Pt, in ionic liquids using a sputter deposition technique without any additives. Suzuki et al. also employed this sputtering method to prepare metal and hollow indium oxide nanoparticles [109]. Balasubramanian et al.

employed the magnetron plasma-sputtering and evaporation method to prepare TiO2-paraffin core– shell nanoparticles on Si substrate.

For more information on the synthesis and properties of Zero dimensional nanoparticles, please see attached review article.

Hoping this will be helpful,

Rafik

Thank you sir, i am interested know about electron confinement in 0D materials.  Is there any electron transition between atoms?

Dear Rajesha,

As I have mentioned before 0D nanoparticles include quantum dots which  has been extensively studied in light emitting diodes (LEDs), solar cells, single-electron transistors, and lasers. Therefore everything applied on quantum dot is applied on this kind of nanoparticles including electron transition between atoms:

Classical models of electrostatic properties of electrons in quantum dots are similar in nature to the Thomson problem of optimally distributing electrons on a unit sphere. The classical electrostatic treatment of electrons confined to spherical quantum dots is similar to their treatment in the Thomson, or plum pudding model, of the atom. The classical treatment of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional quantum dots exhibit electron shell-filling behavior. A "periodic table of classical artificial atoms" has been described for two-dimensional quantum dots. As well, several connections have been reported between the three-dimensional Thomson problem and electron shell-filling patterns found in naturally-occurring atoms found throughout the periodic table. This latter work originated in classical electrostatic modeling of electrons in a spherical quantum dot represented by an ideal dielectric sphere.

Thomson, J.J. (1904). "On the Structure of the Atom: an Investigation of the Stability and Periods of Oscillation of a number of Corpuscles arranged at equal intervals around the Circumference of a Circle; with Application of the Results to the Theory of Atomic Structure" (extract of paper). Philosophical Magazine Series 6 7 (39): 237–265. doi:10.1080/14786440409463107.

 Bednarek, S.; Szafran, B. and Adamowski, J. (1999). "Many-electron artificial atoms". Phys. Rev. B 59 (20): 13036–13042. Bibcode:1999PhRvB..5913036B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.59.13036.

Bedanov, V. M. and Peeters, F. M. (1994). "Ordering and phase transitions of charged particles in a classical finite two-dimensional system". Physical Review B 49 (4): 2667–2676. Bibcode:1994PhRvB..49.2667B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.49.2667.

LaFave, T. Jr. (2013). "Correspondences between the classical electrostatic Thomson Problem and atomic electronic structure". Journal of Electrostatics 71 (6): 1029–1035. doi:10.1016/j.elstat.2013.10.001.

 LaFave, T. Jr. (2011). "The discrete charge dielectric model of electrostatic energy". Journal of Electrostatics 69 (5): 414–418. doi:10.1016/j.elstat.2013.10.001.

Hoping this clarifies my point,

Rafik