Synthesis and Properties of Water-Soluble Blue-Emitting Mn-Alloyed CdTe Quantum Dots

In this work, we prepared CdTe quantum dots, and series of Cd(1-x)Mn(x)Te-alloyed quantum dots with narrow size distribution by an ion-exchange reaction in water solution. We found that the photoluminescence peaks are shifted to higher energies with the increasing Mn(2+) content. So far, this is the first report of blue-emitting CdTe-based quantum dots. By means of cyclic voltammetry, we detected features of electrochemical activity of manganese energy levels formed inside the Cd(1-x)Mn(x)Te-alloyed quantum dot band gap. This allowed us to estimate their energy position. We also demonstrate paramagnetic behavior for Cd(1-x)Mn(x)Te-alloyed quantum dots which confirmed the successful ion-exchange reaction. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s11671-018-2529-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.