One Pot Room Temperature Synthesis of CTAB Capped Highly Luminescent CdTe Quantum Dots in an Aqueous Medium and their Free Radical Scavenging Activity

Abstract

In the present paper, we have reported room temperature synthesis of CTAB capped CdTe quantum dots in an aqueous medium for free radical scavenging assay choosing BHA as the reference free radical. The formation of CdTe QDs required relatively shorter reaction time with quantum yield up to 40 %. Their optical properties, surface morphology and structural characterizations were employed through UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy, Photoluminescence, FE-SEM, Powder-XRD, Raman spectroscopy and DSC-TGA techniques. These QDs showed maximum absorption at 551 nm and their shape was spherical with average particle size of about 3-4 nm as noted by surface morphology. The results showed that the synthesized CdTe QDs have an excellent antioxidant activity. This type of semiconductor quantum dot is a promising material for the upcoming generation in high speed optics and biomedical fields.