Synthesis and characterization of oleylamine-capped PbSe quantum dots

Near infrared-emitting PbSe quantum dots have been studied for various applications and fundamental research. However, synthetic pathways are usually involved in more complicated steps. A simple synthetic route has been investigated on synthesis of oleylamine-capped lead selenide (PbSe) quantum dots (QDs) and the optical properties have been studied in detail. Lead (Pb) precursor is prepared in the solution by dissolving Pb in oleylamine (OLA) under vacuum or open air. A new method for preparation of selenium precursor is reported in this paper. Selenium (Se) precursor is prepared by dissolving Se powder in 1-octadecene (ODE) at 300°C with purging under nitrogen gas. At high temperature, Se precursor is injected into Pb precursor for the reaction. Transmission electron microscope (TEM), photoluminescence spectrometer (PL) and Ultraviolet-Visible-Infrared (UV-VIS-IR) spectrometer have been used to study the properties of PbSe quantum dots. TEM images show the size of as-synthesized PbSe QD samples are 3.14 nm, 3.56 nm, 10.41 nm and 14.6 nm.