Colloidal construction of porous polysaccharide-supported cadmium sulphide

- The preparation of high surface area, mesoporous cubic CdS/starch hybrids is presented.
- A colloidal starch gel confines CdS growth to small, cubic nanoparticles (<40 nm).
- The method allows very high CdS loadings (i.e. 1:1 wt/wt).
- The gel and CdS phase interact to maintain surface and porosity of original gel.
- The green route is applicable to a range of quantum dots and polysaccharide gels.