Influence of Structural Properties of Oleic Acid-Capped CdSe/ZnS Quantum Dots in the Detection of Hg Ions.

Oleic acid-capped CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) were used to investigate their photoluminescence (PL) response to Hg ions as a function of the surface properties of QDs. Three distinctly-size CdSe/ZnS QDs were obtained by varying the molar ratio of shell precursors, which were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), Fourier-Transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), absorption spectroscopy, and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. Results revealed the obtention of zinc blende nanocrystals with sizes ranging from 2.