A facile, 'green" one - Step, room temperature synthesis of a series of monodispersed MSe(M = Cd or Zn) water dispersible nanoparticles

We herein report a facile, 'green' one- step synthesis of a series of monodispersed water soluble selenide nanoparticles at room temperature. The capping ligands used include, cysteine, methionine, ascorbic acid and starch which function as agents of solubilisation, stabilization and conjugation sites for biomolecules. The synthetic approach involves the addition of an appropriate volume of selenide ion produced via the reduction of selenium powder in water to an aqueous solution containing the ligand- metal salt (MCl₂ M = Zn or Cd). Optical spectroscopy shows that the particles are of high quality while the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the samples shows variation in shapes ranging from dots to rods of high and low aspect ratios.