A facile green synthesis of type II water soluble CdTe/CdS core shell nanoparticles

•Green synthesis of highly water soluble and stable CdTe/CdS NPs is reported.•The reaction was carried out at pH 9–12 in the absence of N2 protection.•GSH was used as the capping agent to reduce the toxicity and improve biocompatibility.•The material emits from green to deep red region as the pH increased.

We herein report a simple, economical and green synthesis of highly water soluble and stable CdTe/CdS core shell nanoparticles (NPs). The synthesis was carried out in the absence of an inert environment and involved the use of cadmium acetate, potassium tellurite and glutathione as the cadmium precursor, stable tellurium source and capping agent respectively. The temporal evolution of the optical properties and stability of the growing nanocrystals was monitored in detail by varying the refluxing time, pH and storing the NPs under ambient condition for 30 days.

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