| Summary: | As a multipotent tool for scientific exploration, semiconductor nanoparticles, or quantum dots (QDs), have gained enormous interest in nanoscience in the past two decades. The research presented here focused on cadmium telluride (CdTe) QDs: novel synthetic methodologies were used to prepare previously inaccessible nanomaterials based on CdTe QDs. -- CdTe/CdSe/ZnSe core/shell/shell QDs were prepared by a one-pot synthesis. The resulting QDs exhibited near infrared emission, were readily dispersed in aqueous media and applied to deep tissue imaging where emission through the skin indicated the gradual transition of the QDs via the lymphatic tract. -- Using a different synthetic approach, CdTe QDs, which were dispersed in organic media, were exposed to mercury cations in a toluene/methanol solution, resulting in CdHgTe nanoalloy formation. The optical characteristics of the resulting materials were substantially red-shifted from those of the original CdTe QDs. Structural changes were also examined and the influence of the addition of metal cations to other colloidal QDs. -- The organometallic compound Cd(TeC6H5)2 was synthesised and used as a single-source precursor for CdTe QDs. Products isolated after thermal decomposition of the single-source precursors showed strong emission of various wavelengths depending on the reaction time. The underlying chemistry on QDs formation was investigated, and CdTe/ZnS QDs were prepared using only single-source precursors. -- To make the QDs useful in biology, the surface of organically synthesised CdTe/ZnS QDs was modified with an amphiphilic protein (hydrophobin) to phase transfer the particles into aqueous solution. The QDs exhibited bright emission after phase transfer, and were applied to cell imaging in order to examine the validity as a fluorophore and the influence on a cell.
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