Welsch, Tory A.Cleveland, Jill M.Thomas, Jessica A.Schyns, Zoé Odile GeorgetteKorley, LaShanda T. J.Doty, Matthew F.2024-08-052024-08-052024-05-22Welsch, Tory A., Jill M. Cleveland, Jessica A. Thomas, Zoé Odile Georgette Schyns, LaShanda T. J. Korley, and Matthew F. Doty. “Supramolecular Gelation of Cadmium Oleate in the Synthesis of Nanocrystals for Applications in Photonics and Optoelectronics.” ACS Applied Nano Materials 7, no. 11 (June 14, 2024): 13319–27. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.4c01839.2574-0970https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/34642This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Applied Nano Materials, copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.4c01839. This article will be embargoed until 05/22/2025.Cadmium oleate is widely used as a cation precursor in the synthesis of cadmium chalcogenide nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs) for a broad range of photonic and optoelectronic applications. Cd oleate can noncovalently assemble to form a supramolecular coordination gel, or metallogel, in solvents commonly used to disperse oleate-capped QDs. The gelation severely impedes the purification of oleate-capped QDs from excess Cd oleate, resulting in a gelled product that cannot be reliably characterized or used in further synthesis reactions. Here, we investigate the Cd oleate gel to gain insights into its viscoelastic properties and behavior under conditions relevant to QD synthesis, purification, and storage. We then examine how to effectively mitigate gelation by adding oleylamine as an additional ligand to disrupt noncovalent assembly. We synthesize PbS/CdS core/shell QDs via cation exchange as a case study to illustrate gelation of the reaction product and further demonstrate how this issue can be resolved through a better understanding of the supramolecular gel.en-USquantum dotsnanocrystalsmaterial synthesismetallogelsupramolecular assemblyimpurity mitigationArticle