Effect of amine addition on the synthesis of CdSe nanocrystals in liquid paraffin via one-pot method

•Amine addition during the synthesis of CdSe nanocrystals is investigated.•The particle growth is strikingly accelerated by the in situ amine addition.•OA addition at high temperature leads to the nanoparticles with high quality.•OA addition at low temperature shows also good quality improvement.•ODA might be inappropriate for quality improvement of the nanocrystals.

The effect of n-octylamine (OA) and octadecylamine (ODA) addition on the synthesis of CdSe nanocrystals in liquid paraffin via one-pot method is investigated via the measurements of their ultraviolet–visible absorption and fluorescence emission spectra. Our results showed that the in situ added amines can activate the formation reaction of Cd precursor and, as a result, substantially decrease the initial reaction temperature and accelerate the particle growth. By adding OA at high temperature of 200 °C, remarkable improvement on particle quality is achieved, giving relatively narrow size distribution of 33.1 nm and high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 81.9% for the CdSe nanoparticles. OA addition at low temperature shows also good quality improvement for the nanoparticles. With regard to the primary amine of ODA, it may be inappropriate for quality improvement of the CdSe nanoparticles from liquid paraffin via one-pot method.