Highly Luminescent Monodisperse CdSe and CdSe/ZnS Nanocrystals Synthesized in a Hexadecylamine−Trioctylphosphine Oxide−Trioctylphospine Mixture

Abstract

Highly monodisperse CdSe nanocrystals were prepared in a three-component hexadecylamine−trioctylphosphine oxide−trioctylphosphine (HDA−TOPO−TOP) mixture. This modification of the conventional organometallic synthesis of CdSe nanocrystals in TOPO−TOP provides much better control over growth dynamics, resulting in the absence of defocusing of the particle size distribution during growth. The room-temperature quantum efficiency of the band edge luminescence of CdSe nanocrystals can be improved to 40−60% by surface passivation with inorganic (ZnS) or organic (alkylamines) shells.