Novel low temperature route for large scale synthesis of ZnO quantum dots

A simple and fast method has been developed for the synthesis of zinc oxide quantum dots (QDs) with an average size of 3-4 nm. Zinc ions were chemically reduced to give thermodynamically unstable zinc particles, which were immediately oxidized to release thermodynamically stable zinc oxide nanopowder through a fast reduction/oxidation process. XRD and SAED analysis confirm the hexagonal wurtzite phase of ZnO. The UV-Vis absorption of ZnO QDs show quantum confinement effect in UV-Vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra.