Blue luminescence and superstructures from magic size clusters of CdSe

In this letter, we present a low-temperature synthesis route revealing a new type of ultrasmall CdSe nanoparticle family with exceptional narrow blue emissions between 437 and 456 nm and full width at half-maxima below 20 nm. Transmission electron microscopy characterization shows the uniformity of the nanoparticles, which have a diameter of 1.6 nm. After surface modification, the spherical particles assemble into nanowires, demonstrating their potential as building blocks for the generation of highly ordered superstructures. They can also be used as single source precursors for the synthesis of CdSe nanocrystals.