National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

In this laboratory, students will study how surfactant-based chemistry can be used to synthesize CdSe quantum dots and study how the size of the quantum dots can be controlled by varying reaction time. The laboratory will  demonstrate how the color of these quantum dots can be connected to the size of the nanoparticle by considering the electrons as freely moving particles in a box with the dimensions of the nanoparticle. The model of  will be compared with more exact results, and use this to create a calibration curve. Students will be able to estimate the size of quantum dots by using UV-VIS absorption spectroscopy