Studies on light emitting CdSe quantum dots in commercial polymethylmethacrylate

CdSe quantum dots (QDs) prepared using an aqueous sodium selenosulphite and N,N′-dimethylformamide (DMF) in commercial polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) showed excellent optical properties. Tuning of the absorption and emission wavelengths by varying the selenium concentration with respect to cadmium is studied. As-prepared CdSe quantum dots showed absorption band at 405 nm (3.06 eV) associated with the formation of ‘early-stage’ CdSe nano-particles along with weak absorption at 480–90 nm due to continuous growth of the particles. The blue-green and yellow-green light emissions were observed from as-prepared solutions. Photoluminescence (PL) measurement showed band-edge emissions at around 430 nm for small clusters but a more stable emission at 544 nm for the 1:1 CdSe sample. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of the CdSe/PMMA powder with Cd/Se ratio of 1:1 showed broad pattern for cubic CdSe. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed cube like de-shaped spherical dots in the region of about 5 nm.