A new synthetic route to organically capped cadmium selenide nanoparticles

Abstract

We report a novel method for the preparation of monodispersed hexadecylamine (HDA) and tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) capped CdSe nanoparticles. This route involves the reaction of selenium powder with sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) to produce selenide ions, followed by the addition of a cadmium salt. The nanoparticles showed quantum confinement with characteristic close to band-edge luminescence in their emission spectra. The nanoparticles were characterised by optical spectroscopy, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).