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Hydrothermal Synthesis of High-Quality Thiol-Stabilized CdTexSe1-x Alloyed Quantum Dots

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Abstract

Alloyed semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) enriched the synthetic routes for engineering materials with unique structural and optical properties. High-quality thiol-stabilized CdTexSe1-x alloyed QDs were synthesized through a facile and economic hydrothermal method at 120 °C, a relatively low temperature. These water-soluble QDs were prepared using different capping agents including 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) and L-cysteine (L-Cys). The photoluminescence (PL) intensity and stability of L-Cys-capped CdTexSe1-x QDs were found to be higher than that of MPA-stabilized ones. The molar ratios of Se-to-Te upon preparation were adjusted for investigating the effect of composition on the properties of the resulting QDs. We also investigated the effect of the pH value of the reaction solution on the growth kinetics of the alloyed CdTexSe1-x QDs. The resulting CdTexSe1-x QDs were characterized by UV–vis absorbance and PL spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. Being coated with a CdS inorganic shell, the PL intensity and stability of the CdTexSe1-x/CdS core-shell QDs were drastically enhanced, accompanied by the red-shift of the PL peak wavelength. Owing to the unique optical properties, the QDs hold great potential for application and have to be further exploited.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Program for Taishan Scholars, projects from National Natural Science Foundation of China (21071061), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China (ZR2010EZ001), and Outstanding Young Scientists Foundation Grant of Shandong Province (BS2012CL006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Preparation and Measurement of Building Materials, Key Laboratory of Inorganic Functional Materials of Shandong Universities, 250022, Jinan, People’s Republic of China

    Fanghong Yang, Ping Yang & Yongqiang Cao

  2. School of Material Science and Engineering, University of Jinan, 250022, Jinan, People’s Republic of China

    Fanghong Yang, Ping Yang & Yongqiang Cao

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  1. Fanghong Yang
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  2. Ping Yang
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  3. Yongqiang Cao
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Correspondence to Ping Yang.

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Yang, F., Yang, P. & Cao, Y. Hydrothermal Synthesis of High-Quality Thiol-Stabilized CdTexSe1-x Alloyed Quantum Dots. J Fluoresc 23, 1247–1254 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-013-1256-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-013-1256-0

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