TY - JOUR A1 - Potapkin, D. V. A1 - Geißler, Daniel A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Goryacheva, I. Y. T1 - Fluorescent quantum dot hydrophilization with PAMAM dendrimer JF - Journal of Nanoparticle Research N2 - Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers were used to produce CdSe core/multi-shell fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) which are colloidally stable in aqueous solutions. The size, charge, and optical properties of QDs functionalized with the 4th (G4) and 5th (G5) generation of PAMAM were compared with amphiphilic polymer-covered QDs and used as criteria for the evaluation of the suitability of both water solubilization methods. As revealed by dynamic and electrophoretic light scattering (DLS and ELS), the hydrodynamic sizes of the QDs varied from 30 to 65 nm depending on QD type and dendrimer generation, with all QDs displaying highly positive surface charges, i.e., zeta potentials of around +50 mV in water. PAMAM functionalization yielded stable core/multi-shell QDs with photoluminescence quantum yields (Φ) of up to 45%. These dendrimer-covered QDs showed a smaller decrease in their Φ upon phase transfer compared with QDs made water soluble via encapsulation with amphiphilic brush polymer bearing polyoxyethylene/ polyoxypropylene chains. KW - Photoluminescence quantum yield KW - Quantum dots KW - PAMAM dendrimers KW - Phase transfer KW - Fluorescence PY - 2016 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-016-3411-4 VL - 18 IS - 108 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Springer Science + Business Media B.V. CY - Dordrecht, Netherlands AN - OPUS4-35857 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -