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One-pot aqueous-phase synthesis of ultra-small CdSe/CdS/CdZnS core–shell–shell quantum dots with high-luminescent efficiency and good stability

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Abstract

We describe the preparation and structural characterization of ultra-small water-dispersible CdSe semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs), which are covered by a double-shell structure from CdS and CdZnS through a one-pot microwave-assisted synthesis technique. Because of the radial increase of the respective valence- and conduction-band offsets, the resulting core–shell–shell CdSe/CdS/CdZnS QDs are well electronically passivated, which endows them with high-fluorescence quantum yield of 90 % and high crystallinity, as was investigated by optical characterization, X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Also, due to the stepwise adjustment of the lattice parameters in the radial direction, the obtained QDs display remarkable photostability, acid stability, and oxidation stability both in the aqueous solutions and the intracellular environment. The cytotoxicity experiment further substantiates the good biocompatibility of the core–shell–shell particles, though the size of the obtained QDs was very small (about 3.2 nm). This implied that the CdSe/CdS/CdZnS core–shell–shell QDs can be used as a promising candidate for fluorescent QDs-based biological applications.

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Acknowledgments

Our work was financially supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 program, No. 2007AA06Z418), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 20577036, 20777058, 20977070), the Open Fund of Hubei Biomass-Resource Chemistry and Environmental Biotechnology Key Laboratory (HBRCEBL2011-2012005) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (201120502020003). We express our gratitude to Dr. Ying Liu, Xin-Yu Shen and Shao-Bo Mo (Center for Analysis & Testing of Wuhan University), respectively, for acquiring the XPS, XRD, and TEM images.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resource and Environmental Science, Hubei Biomass-Resource Chemistry and Environmental Biotechnology Key Laboratory, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China

    Hongju Zhan, Peijiang Zhou, Keliang Pan, Ting He, Xuan He, Chuanyun Zhou & Yuning He

  2. Jingchu University of Technology, Jingmen, 448000, China

    Hongju Zhan

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  1. Hongju Zhan
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Correspondence to Peijiang Zhou.

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Zhan, H., Zhou, P., Pan, K. et al. One-pot aqueous-phase synthesis of ultra-small CdSe/CdS/CdZnS core–shell–shell quantum dots with high-luminescent efficiency and good stability. J Nanopart Res 15, 1680 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-1680-8

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