TY - JOUR
T1 - Synthesis of N-acetyl-L-cysteine-capped ZnCdSe quantum dots via hydrothermal method and their characterization
AU - Gao, Fang
AU - Liu, Yuying
AU - Fan, Yao
AU - Zhao, Dan
PY - 2014/10/1
Y1 - 2014/10/1
N2 - Compared with the most studied green-red emitting (530-650 nm) quantum dots (QDs), the preparation of short-wavelength-emitting QDs remains difficult. Besides, one of the representative short-wavelength QDs materials, ZnCdSe, has a shortcoming of high content of toxic cadmium metal. In this paper, we report the synthesis of high-quality water-soluble ZnCdSe QDs via optimized one-step hydrothermal method with a new thiol as ligand, within a short time of 65 min. The emission wavelength of prepared QDs is tunable in the range of 425-540 nm by merely controlling the molar ratio of Cd:Zn or Se:Zn, and the quantum yield reaches 35%. More importantly, the maximum Cd:Zn molar ratio has been reduced to 0.04:1.0, much lower than that reported in the literature (0.5:1.0), resulting in excellent biological compatibility of prepared QDs and thus their promising applications in biological fields. Moreover, the transmission electron microscopy was employed to examine the effect of Cd:Zn ratio on the size of prepared ZnCdSe QDs, which were also characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron diffraction spectroscopy.
AB - Compared with the most studied green-red emitting (530-650 nm) quantum dots (QDs), the preparation of short-wavelength-emitting QDs remains difficult. Besides, one of the representative short-wavelength QDs materials, ZnCdSe, has a shortcoming of high content of toxic cadmium metal. In this paper, we report the synthesis of high-quality water-soluble ZnCdSe QDs via optimized one-step hydrothermal method with a new thiol as ligand, within a short time of 65 min. The emission wavelength of prepared QDs is tunable in the range of 425-540 nm by merely controlling the molar ratio of Cd:Zn or Se:Zn, and the quantum yield reaches 35%. More importantly, the maximum Cd:Zn molar ratio has been reduced to 0.04:1.0, much lower than that reported in the literature (0.5:1.0), resulting in excellent biological compatibility of prepared QDs and thus their promising applications in biological fields. Moreover, the transmission electron microscopy was employed to examine the effect of Cd:Zn ratio on the size of prepared ZnCdSe QDs, which were also characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron diffraction spectroscopy.
KW - hydrothermal route
KW - NAC
KW - QDs
KW - ZnCdSe
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908610661&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/1468-6996/15/5/055001
DO - 10.1088/1468-6996/15/5/055001
M3 - Article
VL - 15
SP - 1
EP - 9
JO - Science and Technology of Advanced Materials
JF - Science and Technology of Advanced Materials
SN - 1468-6996
IS - 5
M1 - 055001
ER -