Synthesis and Characterization of CdTe Nanoparticle/Polymer Functional Composites

Abstract

CdTe nanoparticle (NP)/poly(vinylcarbazole) (PVK) functional composite (composite 1) was synthesized via in-situ method. The composite was characterized by using Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), photoluminescence (PL), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) instruments. The PL properties of composite 1 were compared with CdTe NP/carbazole containing polymer composites (composite 2 and composite 3) which were prepared through the electrostatic interaction between preformed NPs and carbazole-containing polymers. The efficient electron transfer (ET) made composite 1 possess the lowest PL quantum yield (QY), the part ET made composite 2 applicable in white-light illumination, and the Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET) made composite 3 possess the highest QY. The large difference in their PL properties was mainly resulted from the distance and the nature of interaction between NPs and polymers. These experimental results indicated that the composites with different function could be obtained just by varying the method of preparation.

Biomedical and Biochemical Tools of Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Enabled by Colloidal Quantum Dot Nanocrystals for Life Sciences

“…In their study, Sun et al found that aqueous CdTe solutions to yield high FRET efficiency while interacting with a polymer named poly (vinylcarbazole) in a blend. The interaction between these species was achieved through electrostatic interaction of the negatively charged CdTe and the positively charged polymer [27] Similarly, Osovsky et al investigated the FRET process between CdTe NCs which are modified with two distinct functional groups, namely, positively charged cysteamine and negatively charged thioglycolic acid [28]. Here, the biomolecules were coupled with the quantum dots through electrostatic interaction using the charged groups on the backbone of the biomolecules.…”