Synthesis and Properties of Water-Soluble Blue-Emitting Mn-Alloyed CdTe Quantum Dots

Olena Tynkevych; Volodymyr Karavan; Igor Vorona; Svitlana Filonenko; Yuriy Khalavka

doi:10.1186/s11671-018-2529-y

Synthesis and Properties of Water-Soluble Blue-Emitting Mn-Alloyed CdTe Quantum Dots

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2018 May 2;13(1):132. doi: 10.1186/s11671-018-2529-y.

Authors

Olena Tynkevych¹, Volodymyr Karavan², Igor Vorona³, Svitlana Filonenko^{4

5}, Yuriy Khalavka⁶

Affiliations

¹ Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Kotsiubynsky Str. 2, Chernivtsi, 58012, Ukraine. o.tynkevych@chnu.edu.ua.
² The Scientific Center of Preventive Toxicology, Food and Chemical Safety, Fedkovycha Str. 30, Chernivtsi, 58000, Ukraine.
³ V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 45, Pr. Nauky, Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine.
⁴ L. V. Pisarzhevskii Institute of Physical Chemistry of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 31, Pr. Nauky, Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine.
⁵ Aalto University School of Science, P.O. Box 12200, FI-00076, Aalto, Finland.
⁶ Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Kotsiubynsky Str. 2, Chernivtsi, 58012, Ukraine.

Abstract

In this work, we prepared CdTe quantum dots, and series of Cd_1-xMn_xTe-alloyed quantum dots with narrow size distribution by an ion-exchange reaction in water solution. We found that the photoluminescence peaks are shifted to higher energies with the increasing Mn²⁺ content. So far, this is the first report of blue-emitting CdTe-based quantum dots. By means of cyclic voltammetry, we detected features of electrochemical activity of manganese energy levels formed inside the Cd_1-xMn_xTe-alloyed quantum dot band gap. This allowed us to estimate their energy position. We also demonstrate paramagnetic behavior for Cd_1-xMn_xTe-alloyed quantum dots which confirmed the successful ion-exchange reaction.

Keywords: Alloying; Cadmium telluride; Manganese; Quantum dots; Thioglycolic acid.