Abstract
Silver chalcogenides showed potential for biomedicine due to their lower cytotoxicity, emission in the near-infrared region, and higher penetrability in biological tissues. However, the aqueous synthesis of these nanocrystals affords quantum dots (QDs) with lower quantum efficiency, when compared to the preparation in organic solvents. Thus, this work intended to enhance the fluorescence intensity of hydrophilic silver selenide (Ag2Se) QDs by irradiating them with visible light. Ag2Se QDs stabilized with mercaptossuccinic acid were prepared in water, achieving nanocrystals with an emission maximum of around 743 nm. These nanocrystals were irradiated with visible light for up to 60 min. Our results showed that 30 min of irradiation induced an emission enhancement of up to 800 %. Moreover, 60 min of irradiation afforded an improvement of more than 770 % together with a decrease in the full width at maximum wavelength. Thus, photoirradiation can be a simple and efficient strategy to improve silver chalcogenides’ quantum yields.
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