Photochemical properties and shape evolution of CdSe QDs in a non-injection reaction

Highly monodispersed CdSe quantum dots (QDs) were prepared without an injection procedure. A series of Cd salts of long chain fatty acids, including Cd-myristate (C14), Cd-palmitate (C16) and Cd-stearate (C18) was prepared, and all metallic precursors and surfactants were mixed together followed by increasing the temperature in a controlled manner. The reaction resulted in highly monodisperse and bright zinc blende QDs. In addition, the effects of specific ligands which have been known to lead anisotropic growth of the nanocrystals in the injection method were investigated. The use of alkyl phosphonic acid and alkyl amine was found to produce extremely monodisperse CdSe QDs with a high quantum yield. This procedure was proven to be able to yield a large quantity of zinc blende CdSe QDs (2 g) in a one-pot reaction. The use of a controlled amount of tetradecylphosphonic acid and octadecylamine resulted in tetrapod- and match-shaped QDs, the first reported by a non-injection method. These results clearly demonstrate that appropriate combination of precursors can provide high quality of CdSe nanocrystals in terms of quantum yield, monodispersity and shape control by a non-injection method.