Branched Ligand Ethyl 2‐Mercaptopropionate as a Stabilizer for CdTe Quantum Dots and its use as a Cu2+ Ions Probe in Aqueous Medium

Abstract

AbstractIn the present work, we explored the possibility of using a novel stabilizing ligand namely ethyl 2‐mercaptopropionate for the synthesis of CdTe quantum dots (QDs). The QDs were synthesized and stabilized by the ligand and it was realized to be emitting at 560 nm. Extensive microscopic and photo physical characterization were carried out in order to unearth the nature of the QDs synthesized. Interestingly, it was observed that, the photoluminescence emission of as synthesized QDs were getting quenched linearly in the presence of Cu2+, which prompt us to make use of these QDs for the detection of Cu2+ ions in aqueous media. A detailed mechanism of quenching was also proposed. The linear range over which the QDs was selective to Cu2+ ions was from 0.5 nM to 129.5 nM with a detection limit (LOD) of 0.5 nM providing a pathway for the QDs based Cu2+ probe.