Formation of organically and inorganically passivated CdS nanoparticles in reverse microemulsions

This paper is focused on the formation of organically and inorganically passivated cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles in two different types of microemulsions. On the one hand, we used a ternary inverse microemulsion consisting of water, heptanol, and 3-(N,N-dimethyldodecylammonio)propanesulfonate and on the other hand, a poly(ethyleneimine)-based quaternary microemulsion containing water, toluene, pentanol, and sodium dodecylsulfate. UV-vis measurements confirm the formation of CdS-ZnS core-shell nanoparticles in the ternary microemulsion. Using the quaternary microemulsion template phase, polymer capped luminescent CdS nanoparticles can be formed. After a complete solvent evaporation, the nanoparticles are redispersed in water and characterized by means of dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. From the ternary microemulsion, well-stabilized CdS-ZnS core-shell nanoparticles with diameters of about 5 nm can be redispersed, but from the quaternary microemulsion, only nanoparticle aggregates of about 100 nm.