Photostability of luminescent water-soluble cadmium selenide nanocrystals with chemical surface modification

We have developed a method for solubilization of hydrophobic CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals of the core/shell type, obtained by high-temperature synthesis in coordinating organic solvents. The method is based on chemical modification of the surface of the nanocrystals with hydrophilic organic mercapto compounds. We have observed that long-chain mercaptoundecanoic acid molecules effectively protect the surface of CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals in water, increasing (compared with short-chain molecules) the photostability of the nanocrystals. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 73, No. 4, pp. 506–509, July–August, 2006.