Effect of Temperature on Synthesis of ZnSe Quantum Dots in Apoferritin

Abstract

Zinc selenide quantum dots were synthesized in the cavity of horse spleen apoferritin using a synthetic process that employs tetraaminezinc ions and selenourea. The synthesized ZnSe quantum dots were characterized by UV-Visible absorption measurements, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. Indeed, ZnSe quantum dots (QDs) were successfully synthesized in the cavity of ferritin and the QDs in the apoferritin cavity were fluorescent. In addition, the size of the ZnSe QDs was increased with increasing the synthetic temperature and the size could be controlled from 2.8 to 3.7 nm by altering the synthetic temperature from 30 degrees C to 50 degrees C. The PL intensity and UV-Vis absorption were also increased with increasing the QD sizes. It was also found that the existence of apoferritin is essential for the present synthetic method and the formation of ZnSe QDs occur in the inner cavity of apoferritin.