Vu Duc Chinh

Experimental Determination of the Fluorescence Quantum Yield of Semiconductor Nanocrystals.

Many studies have considered the luminescence of colloidal II–VI nanocrystals, both in solution at a collective scale and at an individual scale by confocal microscopy. The quantum yield is an important figure of merit for the optical quality of a fluorophore. We detail here a simple method to determine the quantum yield of nanocrystals in solution as a function of the absorption. For this purpose, we choose rhodamine 101 as a reference dye to measure the nanocrystal fluorescence quantum yield. The influence of the concentration on quantum yield is therefore studied for both the reference and the solutions of nanocrystals and is found to be critical for the acuity of the method. Different types of nanocrystals are studied to illustrate different quantum yield evolutions with the concentration.

Detection of the pesticide by functionalised quantum dots as fluorescence–based biosensor

In this paper, we present the new results of biosensor that is made from the surface–modified quantum dots with acetylcholinesterase enzymes (AChE) for optical detection of the pesticides. The quantum dots (QDs) mentioned in this study are CdTe, CdSe/ZnS and CdSe/ZnSe/ZnS - the thick shell QDs are totally new. The results pointed out that all of the quantum dots are fit for the role of transducers in biosensor. In the biosensor, the QD– streptavidine - AChE is used as the substrate for the detection of pesticide. The pesticides used in this work are Parathion Methyl (PM) and Acetamiprid. The acetylthiocholine (ATCh) is used as an indicator of the activity of the AChE enzyme. Alternatively, the organophosphorus (OP) pesticides are the inhibitor for the AChE enzymes. Therefore, the mixture of the pesticide and ATCh is used for the goal of the specification of pesticide. We can detect pesticides by the change in PL intensity of QDs biosensor, with the content ranges from 0.05 ppb to 10 ppb.

Optical Detection of the Pesticide by Functionalized Quantum Dots as Fluorescence-Based Biosensor

In this work, the results on using biosensor composed from quantum dots as transducer and acetylcholinesterase enzymes (AChE) to detect pesticides optically are presented. The used quantum dots were CdTe, CdSe/ZnS 10 monolayer (ML) and CdSe/ZnSe2ML/ZnS 8 ML – the brand new thick-shell quantum dots (QD). The study results pointed out that the CdSe/ZnS 10 ML and CdSe/ZnSe 2ML/ZnS 8ML quantum dots best fit for the role of transducers in biosensors. In the biosensor, acetylthiocholine (ATCh) is used as indicator for the AChE enzymes to work, since it is a very powerful hydrolyte with the presence of AChE enzymes. Moreover, the organophosphorus (OP) pesticides are the inhibitors for the AChE enzymes, thus, by the biosensors that we designed, we can detect pesticides by the change in photoluminescence (PL) intensity of QDs, with the detection of OP like parathion methyl is 0.05 ppm, and acetamiprid is 2.5 ppm.

Synthesis and optical properties of colloidal Au–Ag alloy nanoparticles

Colloidal gold–silver alloy nanoparticles (NPs) of variable composition were synthesised by sodium citrate reduction of mixed metal precursors at low concentrations. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) images showed presence of particles in the 10–70 nm diameter range depending on the alloy compositions. A single surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak observed in the visible spectrum proved the formation of homogeneous gold–silver alloy NPs. The position of the SPR absorption band maximum increased linearly with increasing gold content in the alloy NPs, ranging from 406 nm to 526 nm. No signicant change in surface plasmon bands was observed for fresh samples and after three months at room temperature indicating fair stability of the particles. Some alloy NPs show fluorescence emission peaks with blue and red shifts compared with the observed fluorescence from pure gold NPs.

Synthesis and Optical Properties of Colloidal CdS/CdSe/CdS Quantum Wells

Colloidal CdS/CdSe/CdS quantum wells were synthesized from TOPSe and cadmium oleate in octadecene, a non-coordinating solvent. Absorption, emission, and Raman scattering spectra of colloidal CdS/CdSe/CdS quantum wells with different thickness of CdSe well were investigated. The effect of thickness of CdSe well on the optical and vibrational properties of colloidal CdS/CdSe/CdS quantum wells was discussed. The expri-mental results provide further evidence for the existence of quantum dot-quantum well structures in CdS/CdSe/CdS type materials.