Size controlled preparation of CdTe nanoparticles by apoferritin

Cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe QDs) were synthesized in the cavity of horse spleen apoferritin and CdTe-apoferritin complex was fluorescent. Apoferritin is a popular bio-template to prepare various nanoparticles with narrow size distribution due to the confinement of the hollow protein shell. In this work, we controlled the diameters of CdTe NPs by changing the reaction conditions. Altering the molar ratio of Cd to Te from 1:0.05 to 1:0.2 and pH can change the diameters of NPs cores. The synthesized QDs were characterized by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that the PL intensity decreased when the Cd/Te molar ratio was decreased from 1:0.05 to 1:0.3 and pH was increased from 9.01 to 9.96. In addition, it was proven that the existence of apoferritin is necessary for the present synthetic method and the formation of CdTe QDs in the inner cavity of apoferritin.