Synthesis of near‐infrared‐emitting CdTeSe and CdZnTeSe quantum dots

We exploited the synthesis of near‐infrared (NIR) emitting ternary‐alloyed CdTeSe and quaternary‐alloyed CdZnTeSe quantum dots (QDs) with rod and tetrapod morphologies, which have tunable emission in the NIR electromagnetic spectrum. The morphologies of the QDs depended strongly on their growth kinetics, probably due to the coordinating ligands used in the preparation. Using oleic acid, stearic acid and hexadecylamine as ligands and keeping the same reaction parameters, QDs with tetrapod and rod morphologies were created. Not only had the capping ligands influenced the morphologies of QDs, but also they influenced the optical properties of QDs. The molar ratios of Cd/Zn and Te/Se upon preparation were adjusted for investigating the effect of composition on the properties of resulting QDs. By varying the composition of QDs, the photoluminescence (PL) wavelength of QDs was tuned from 650 nm to 800 nm. To enhance PL efficiency and stability, QDs were coated with a CdZnS shell. As NIR PL has numerous advantages in biological imaging detection, these QDs hold great potential for application. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.