This work presents experimental observation of the quantized growth of CdTe quantum dots (QD) in the presence of hexadecylamine (HDA), hexylphosphonic acid (HPA), and trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) above 200 °C. The crystal growth of CdTe QDs is monitored by in situ UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The high-temperature absorption spectra indicate the evolution of multiple peaks corresponding to various sizes of QDs. Analysis of the growth kinetics suggests quantized growth of the CdTe QDs in the coordinating solvent mixture. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images and electron diffraction pattern show that most of the QDs have the zinc blende crystal structure. The HRTEM images indicate nanotwinning and stacking faults in larger CdTe QDs. Domain sizes in the HRTEM images correlate well with the smallest observed magic-sized CdTe QDs, in agreement with the proposed aggregation growth mechanism under the experimental conditions. The smallest observed zinc blende CdTe QDs with the diameter of 1.9 ( 0.3 nm are isolated by quenching the reaction mixture during the initial phase of the QD synthesis. The experimental observation suggests that the surprising stability of the magic-sized CdTe QDs is the result of the surface stabilization of the QDs of the HDA and/or HPA. As previously suggested, the aggregation is driven by dipole-dipole interaction between CdTe nanoparticles. The results show that the aggregation of quantum dots could be very important at the early stage of the growth. The magic-sized QDs can be dissolved in either methanol or toluene, which suggests heterogeneity of their surface chemistry. The QDs dissolved in the methanol phase exhibit relatively strong white light emission from 400 to 650 nm with an emission quantum yield of approximately 4%. The QDs dissolved in the toluene phase exhibit very weak emission.

BackgroundThere is renewed interest in magnetic hyperthermia as a treatment modality for cancer, especially when it is combined with other more traditional therapeutic approaches, such as the co-delivery of anticancer drugs or photodynamic therapy.MethodsThe influence of bimagnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) combined with short external alternating magnetic field (AMF) exposure on the growth of subcutaneous mouse melanomas (B16-F10) was evaluated. Bimagnetic Fe/Fe3O4 core/shell nanoparticles were designed for cancer targeting after intratumoral or intravenous administration. Their inorganic center was protected against rapid biocorrosion by organic dopamine-oligoethylene glycol ligands. TCPP (4-tetracarboxyphenyl porphyrin) units were attached to the dopamine-oligoethylene glycol ligands.ResultsThe magnetic hyperthermia results obtained after intratumoral injection indicated that micromolar concentrations of iron given within the modified core-shell Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles caused a significant anti-tumor effect on murine B16-F10 melanoma with three short 10-minute AMF exposures. We also observed a decrease in tumor size after intravenous administration of the MNPs followed by three consecutive days of AMF exposure 24 hrs after the MNPs injection.ConclusionsThese results indicate that intratumoral administration of surface modified MNPs can attenuate mouse melanoma after AMF exposure. Moreover, we have found that after intravenous administration of micromolar concentrations, these MNPs are capable of causing an anti-tumor effect in a mouse melanoma model after only a short AMF exposure time. This is a clear improvement to state of the art.

While high photoconductive gain has been recently achieved in graphene-based hybrid phototransistors using semiconductor two-dimensional transition/post-transition metal dichalcogenides or quantum dots sensitizers, obtaining fast photoresponse simutaneously remains a challenge that must be addressed for practical applications. In this paper we report a graphene/GaSe nanosheets hybrid photodetector, in which GaSe nanosheets provide a favorable geometric link to graphene conductive layer through van Der Waals force. After a vacuum annealing process, a high gain in exceeding 107 has been obtained simitaneously with a dynamic response time of around 10 ms for both light on and off. We attribute the high performance to the elimination of possible deep charge traps, most probably at the graphene/GaSe nanosheets interface. This result demonstrates high photoconductive gain and fast photoresponse can be achieved simultaneously and a clean interface is the key to the high performance of these hybrid devices.

In this study, the heterogeneous growth of CdSe nanoparticles is reported by using in situ fluorescence spectroscopy. In the heterogeneous growth regime, nanoparticles with well-defined and very different sizes can coexist in the solution. The average size and size distribution of the nanoparticles is primarily not controlled by the usual focusing-defocusing (Ostwald ripening) of particles, rather by the formation of "magic" sized particles. In these studies, the effects of indium doping from indium chloride on the growth kinetics, size, size distribution, as well as the quantum yield of the various particles in the growth solution is investigated. Specifically, it is shown that the indium atoms accelerate the dissolution of the magic sized CdSe nanoparticles, while the chloride ions seem to stabilize the magic size particles. The present result will help to improve the understanding of how a dopant atom can affect the growth kinetics of semiconductor nanoparticles.