Obtenção de nanocristais semicondutores de CdTe via síntese in situ em matrizes mesoporosas MCM-41 para aplicação em sensores eletroquímicos na detecção de íons Cu2+

Abstract

CdTe semiconductor nanoparticles have unique optical properties, which can be tunable sizes, due to the quantum confinement effect. In the present work, stable CdTe nanocrystals were grown in the mesoporous environment of thiol-functionalized MCM-41 mesoporous silica from an approach employing 3-mercaptopropionic acid, an efficient capping agent. The obtained materials were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, N2 dessortion/adsorption, UV-Vis emission and absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electrochemical characterization; X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analyses were used to MCM-41 silica. The emission properties of CdTe were found to be dependent on the proportion of mesoporous matrix used in the synthesis, yielding CdTe nanocrystals emitting below the wavelength range usually obtained from aqueous colloidal synthesis. The detection of Cu2+ ions using modified carbon paste electrodes by anodic stripping voltammetry was possible only with samples of CdTe in situ, evidencing the role of the semiconductor as active phase. The most active sample obtained here was exactly that containing the lowest CdTe loading, showing it is possible to reduce the dosage of Cd-containing nanocrystals while improving their properties, which is crucial to concretize applications of CdTe nanocrystals.