Glutathione as both ligand and sulfur source for the synthesis of full-color luminescent water-soluble CdS nanocrystals

In this work, we developed a facile methodology for synthesizing fluorescence tunable CdS nanocrystals with glutathione acting as both ligand and sulfur source. The structure and property characteristics of the as-prepared CdS nanocrystals have been thoroughly investigated by various characterization techniques. The results indicate that CdS nanocrystals can be well-controllably prepared by using glutathione under basic condition in an oil bath with a temperature of 95 °C. Also, the surface chemistry stability of CdS nanocrystals is in favor of their fluorescence lifetime, showing possibilities of CdS nanocrystals in the construction of fluorescent devices.