Preparation of monodisperse CdTe nanocrystals-SiO2 microspheres without ligands exchange

Fluorescent CdTe-SiO2 composite microspheres were prepared by a sol–gel method without the exchange of surface ligands for the first time. We loaded CdTe nanocrystals (NCs) into the matrix of silica microspheres during the formation of composite spheres. In contrast to CdTe NCs in aqueous solutions, CdTe NCs in the composite microspheres revealed better stability while their fluorescence properties were retained due to the confined effects of silica matrix. In addition, we also investigated the dependency of properties of these composite spheres on such important synthesis factors as pH value, concentration and stabilizers during experiment procedure in details.