Effects of nanocrystal shape on the surface charge density of ionic colloidal nanoparticles

Both size and shape of nanocrystals play an important role in determination of the energy spectrum, the surface charge density, and the stability of semiconductor-based ionic colloids. When the nanocrystal size decreases, an improvement in colloidal stability is expected due to the increase of the surface charge density. A relatively small deviation from spherical-towards ellipsoidal shape may improve even further colloid stability, due to quantum confinement effects.