Results and discussion The successful synthesis of high-quality monodisperse quantum dots (QDs) must start with a swift and short nucleation from supersaturated reactants, followed by growth without further nucleation [24, 25]. In this study, this excess selenium situation significantly enhanced the reaction of the metal acetylacetonates [Cu(acac)2, Zn(acac)2, and Sn(acac)4] click here with selenium, resulting in a short nucleation stage. This synthetic tactic is advantageous over the typical hot-injection synthesis [24], which requires a relatively high injection temperature (usually above 250°C) to generate burst nucleation.

Figure 1a shows the XRD pattern of the CZTSe NCs. The diffraction peaks in the XRD pattern appear at 27.3°, 45.3°, 53.6°, 66.3°, and 72.8°, consistent with the (112), (220/204), (312), (400/008), and (316) planes, respectively, which match those of tetragonal-phase CTZSe (JCPDS Abemaciclib mw 52-0868). The diffraction peaks of stoichiometric Cu2SnSe4 and ZnSe are very similar to those of CZTSe. To ensure our results, Raman scattering is also performed for a more definitive assignment of the structure [26].

Figure 1b shows the Raman spectrum buy TSA HDAC of the CZTSe NCs. One peak at around 192 cm−1 is detected, which matches well with that of bulk CZTSe (192 cm−1). However, the peaks are slightly broader and shifted with respect to those of the bulk crystal. Broadening of Raman peaks has been observed previously for NCs of other materials and attributed to phonon confinement within the NCs [27]. Both

characterizations suggest that pure-phase CTZSe NCs are synthesized. Figure 1 XRD pattern, Raman spectrum, HRTEM image, Mirabegron and optical absorption spectrum of CZTSe NCs. (a) XRD pattern of CZTSe NCs. [The standard diffraction lines of tetragonal-phase CTZSe (JCPDS 52-0868) are shown at the bottom for comparison.] (b) Raman spectrum of CZTSe NCs. (c) HRTEM image of CZTSe NCs. (d) Optical absorption spectrum of CZTSe NCs. (The inset shows the bandgap of CZTSe NCs). Figure 1c shows a high-resolution transmission electron micrograph (HRTEM) of CZTSe NCs. The average size of CZTSe NCs is about 3 nm. CZTSe NCs have better dispersibility. Figure 1d shows the UV-vis absorption spectrum of CZTSe NCs and the corresponding bandgap of CZTSe NCs. The bandgap of CZTSe NCs was estimated to be 1.76 eV by extrapolating the linear region of a plot of the squared absorbance versus the photon energy. This is mainly attributed to the small size and quantum confinement effect of CTZSe NCs [28]. Figure 2 shows the FTIR spectra of OLA and CZTSe NCs before and after ligand exchange. The transfer of CZTSe NCs from toluene to FA resulted in complete disappearance of the peaks at 2,852 and 2,925 cm−1 corresponding to C-H stretching in the original organic ligand. As shown in the inset photograph, the two-phase mixture that contained immiscible layers of FA (down) and toluene (up) showed the ligand exchange of CZTSe NCs.