Thiol-Capping of CdTe Nanocrystals: An Alternative to Organometallic Synthetic Routes

New approaches to synthesize photostable thiol-capped CdTe nanocrystals are reported. Post-preparative size-selective precipitation and selective photochemical etching have been developed as methods providing an increase of photoluminescence quantum efficiency of the nanocrystals of up to 40%. Some advantages of thiol-capping in comparison to conventional organometallic syntheses of quantum dots are discussed.