Photoluminescence study of CdSe nanorods embedded in a PVA matrix

Nanometer-sized semiconductor CdSe nanorods have been successfully grown within polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix by in situ technique. PVA:n-CdSe nanorods are characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, UV-vis spectrophotometer and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The photoluminescence spectra of PVA:n-CdSe nanorods are studied at different excitation wavelengths. PVA:n-CdSe nanorods have demonstrated to exhibit strong and well-defined green photoluminescence emission. The long-term stability of the PL properties of PVA:n-CdSe nanorods is also investigated in view of possible applications of polymer nanocomposites. The linear optical constants such as the extinction coefficient (k), real (epsilon(1)) and imaginary (epsilon(2)) dielectric constant, optical conductivity (sigma(opt)) are calculated for PVA:n-CdSe nanorods. The optical properties i.e. good photo-stability and larger stokes shift suggesting to apply PVA:n-CdSe nanorods in bioimaging applications. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.