Facile Hydrothermal Synthesis of Oil-Soluble PbSe Quantum Dots

Oil-soluble PbSe quantum dots (QDs) with uniform morphology and narrow size distribution were ob- tained via a facile hydrothermal approach. The cubic PbSe QDs with nearly spherical shape and average diameter of (4.0 ± 0.5) nm were obtained. The as-synthesized PbSe QDs showed a strong and a relatively narrow band edge emis- sion in the near purple region at 435 nm and a small full width at half maximum (FWHM) approximately of 80 nm. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra moved to low energy region and FWHM became broad when the reaction time extended and the synthesis temperature increased. The PL spectra exhibited less intense and well defined features at long wavelength which were ascribed to low energy transitions as varying Pb/S molar ratios. In addition, the defect luminescence of PbSe QDs became more obvious with the synthesis temperatures and Pb/S molar ratios increasing. The PL spectra of PbSe QDs shifted to long wavelength (low energy region), because small particles coalesced into form large particles during reaction, which was in agreement with the Ostwald ripening principle. The defects of PbSe QDs may result from thermodynamically instable and lower densities of capped oleic acid.