Chemometric approach to study the influence of synthesis parameters on the size of CdTe quantum dots obtained from aqueous solutions

Abstract

This study reports CdTe quantum dots synthesis in an aqueous medium using cadmium chloride and sodium tellurite as precursors and sodium borohydride and mercaptosuccinic acid as reducing and capping agents, respectively. The synthesis process was optimized through experimental design, and particle characterization was carried out by UV-Vis spectroscopy and molecular fluorescence. In the first stage, a factorial design was used to establish the significance of each of the synthesis variables; i.e., the temperature, pH, reaction time and precursor molar ratios. In the second stage, a multivariate design was constructed to relate the synthesis variables with the maximum absorbance wavelengths, which allowed for predictions of the diameters of the CdTe quantum dots, which were compared with direct measurements of the particles analyzed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, HR-TEM and X-ray diffraction, XRD. Finally, there is a brief discussion regarding the existing models predicting particle sizes. Keywords: Experimental design, Quantum dots, Cadmium telluride, Synthesis and characterization