A facile route to synthesize CdZnSe core–shell-like alloyed quantum dots via cation exchange reaction in aqueous system

•Water-soluble CdZnSe alloyed QDs synthesized by cation exchange reaction.•The as-prepared CdZnSe QDs have fairly good luminescence properties.•The surface defects of obtained QDs were removed due to the alloyed structure.

Water-soluble CdZnSe alloyed nanocrystals have been successfully prepared via “green” cation exchange reaction in aqueous system. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns indicate that the as-prepared nanocrystals had high crystallinity and small particle size of 4–5 nm. The absorption spectra of CdZnSe show red shift of 100 nm from 375 to 475 nm. Moreover, the band-gap photoluminescent (PL) emission has a red shift of 50 nm from 430 to 480 nm with the increase of the reaction time. On the basis of the PL properties and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, one kind of core–shell-like structure model was proposed, which resulted from the different cation exchange reaction rates. This structure could greatly improve the luminescence properties by the removal of surface defect of quantum dots. This work would support potential applications in optoelectronic devices, and biomedical tags fields.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide