Synthesis and photoluminescence of bright water-soluble CdSe/ZnS quantum dots overcoated by hybrid organic shell

Photoluminescence properties from water soluble CdSe/ZnS QDs encapsulated with hybrid trioctylphosphine-poly(acrylamide-co-acrylicacid)-ethanolamine (TOPO-PSMA-EA) shell have been investigated. It was found that PL efficiency of CdSe/ZnS QDs in water was increased 5-30% after introducing PSMA-EA polymers to encapsulate CdSe/ZnS-TOPO QDs. Higher PSMA concentrations were found to enhance the PL efficiency of QDs up to 1.8 folds, which is ascribed to a better packing and passivation of the TOPO-PSMA-EA shell over the QDs. Time-resolved photoluminescence suggested that the mean lifetime of photoexcited carriers in the water-soluble CdSe/ZnS-TOPO-PSMA-EA QDs elongated 2-17 ns compared with that of uncoated samples. indicating that PL quenching defects were effectively removed for CdSe/ZnS QDs with hybrid TOPO-PSMA-EA shell. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.