Synthesis of water-soluble photoluminescent germanium nanocrystals

摘要

Photoluminescent germanium nanocrystals were synthesized in solution using hydride reducing agents. The surface of the Ge nanocrystals was modified with allylamine to produce water-soluble photoluminescent Ge nanocrystals. When the reducing agent was added slowly, the particles were 5 nm in size with a narrow size distribution. However, when the reducing agent was injected rapidly, the Ge nanocrystals formed large ( 50 nm) triangles that were too large to exhibit the effects of quantum confinement and thus did not fluoresce. Characterization of the Ge nanocrystals is performed using transmission electron microscopy, selected-area electron diffraction, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and optical spectroscopy.