Synthesis and properties of water-soluble CdSe/Zn1-xMnxS semiconductor quantum dots using an amphiphilic polymer

Shizhong Wang; Angelique Y. Louie; Susan M. Kauzlarich

doi:10.1117/12.701447

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5 February 2007 Synthesis and properties of water-soluble CdSe/Zn_1-xMn_xS semiconductor quantum dots using an amphiphilic polymer

Shizhong Wang, Angelique Y. Louie, Susan M. Kauzlarich

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Proceedings Volume 6448, Colloidal Quantum Dots for Biomedical Applications II; 64480A (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.701447
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2007, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

We report the phase transfer of hydrophobic CdSe/Zn_1-xMn_xS quantum dots (QDs) into water by encapsulation with octylamine-modified poly(acrylic acid) (PAA). CdSe/Zn_1-xMn_xS QDs are of interest as multimodality biological probes where the photoluminescence and magnetic relaxivity can be tuned independently. Different percentages of the carboxyl groups in PAA were grafted with octylamine molecules and the modified PAA was used for capping CdSe/Zn_1-xMn_xS QDs to make them water soluble. We investigated the optical properties and the solubility of the CdSe/Zn_1-xMn_xS QDs in water. It was found that the PAA with a modification percentage of ~ 45% resulted in soluble CdSe/Zn_1-xMn_xS QDs with the highest quantum yield (QY) in water of approximately 20%. The QY of CdSe/Zn_1-xMn_xS QDs in water was lower than the initial measurement in chloroform and dropped in the initial stages of phase transfer, stabilizing at 20%. Hydrodynamic size of the polymer encapsulated CdSe/Zn_1-xMn_xS QDs in water was evaluated by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The smallest average hydrodynamic diameter of ~ 30 nm was achieved when the molecular ratio of QDs to PAA for capping was 1 nanomole of QDs to 24 micromole of monomer unit.

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Shizhong Wang, Angelique Y. Louie, and Susan M. Kauzlarich "Synthesis and properties of water-soluble CdSe/Zn_1-xMn_xS semiconductor quantum dots using an amphiphilic polymer", Proc. SPIE 6448, Colloidal Quantum Dots for Biomedical Applications II, 64480A (5 February 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.701447

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