Materials including semiconductor nanocrystals

1. A method of manufacturing a layered device comprising:

depositing a film-forming solution on a substrate to form two layers from the film-forming solution, the film-forming solution including a first material and a second material, wherein the first material includes a matrix material and the second material includes a plurality of nanoparticles; and

forming a bilayer structure from the single film-forming solution by phase segregation, wherein the bilayer structure includes a layer of the first material including the matrix material and a layer of the second material including the plurality of nanoparticles.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein one layer is a discontinuous layer including the nanoparticles.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein one layer is a continuous layer including the nanoparticles.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nanoparticles is a plurality of semiconductor nanoparticles.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nanoparticles is a plurality of metallic nanoparticles.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nanoparticles is a plurality of ceramic nanoparticles.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the layer of the second material including a plurality of nanoparticles is a monolayer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the matrix material is non-polymeric.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each nanoparticle has a ligand bonded to its surface having the formula:

wherein k is 2, 3 or 5, and n is 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 such that k−n is not less than zero; X is O, S, S═O, SO 2 , Se, Se═O, N, N═O, P, P═O, As, or As═O; each of Y and L, independently, is aryl, heteroaryl, or a straight or branched C 2-12 hydrocarbon chain optionally containing at least one double bond, at least one triple bond, or at least one double bond and one triple bond, the hydrocarbon chain being optionally substituted with one or more C 1-4 alkyl, C 2-4 alkenyl, C 2-4 alkynyl, C 1-4 alkoxy, hydroxyl, halo, amino, nitro, cyano, C 3-5 cycloalkyl, 3-5 membered heterocycloalkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, C 1-4 alkylcarbonyloxy, C 1-4 alkyloxycarbonyl, C 1-4 alkylcarbonyl, or formyl and the hydrocarbon chain being optionally interrupted by —O—, —S—, —N(R a )—, —N(R a )—C(O)—O—, —O—C(O)—N(R a )—, —N(R a )—C(O)—N(R b )—, —O—C(O)—O—, —P(R a )—, or —P(O)(R a )—; and each of R a and R b , independently, is hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, alkoxy, hydroxylalkyl, hydroxyl, or haloalkyl.

10. A method of forming a layered structure comprising:

selecting a matrix material and a plurality of nanoparticles which are mutually immiscible;

dissolving the matrix material and the plurality of nanoparticles in a solvent to form a coating solution;

coating a substrate with the coating solution, and

forming a bilayer structure from the coating solution by phase segregation wherein the bilayer structure includes a monolayer of the plurality of nanoparticles on a layer of the matrix material.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein coating the substrate with the coating solution includes spin coating.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the nanoparticle is a semiconductor nanoparticle.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the nanoparticle is a metallic nanoparticle.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the nanoparticle is a ceramic nanoparticle.

15. A method of manufacturing a layered device comprising:

depositing a film-forming solution including a first material and a second material on a substrate to form two layers from the film-forming solution, a layer of the first material and a layer of the second material, wherein the first material includes a matrix material and the second material includes a plurality of nanoparticles; and

wherein the layer of the second material including a plurality of nanoparticles is a monolayer.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein one layer is a discontinuous layer including the nanoparticles.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of nanoparticles is a plurality of semiconductor nanoparticles.