| abstract |
The combination of at least one substantially unfunctionalised carbon surface, such as a fullerene, graphite or amorphous carbon, graphene or pre-aligned carbon nanotubes and at least semi-conducting nanoparticle, for example CdSe, CdTe, CdS, InP and/or ZnO or a metallic alloy nanoparticle is described wherein the at least one nanoparticle is directly attached to the substantially unfunctionalised carbon surface. A method for the manufacture of the nanoparticles is also described. This method comprises: —dissolving a cation source in a first organic solvent to produce a cation-containing medium; —adding a plurality of substantially unfunctionalised carbon surfaces to the cation-containing medium to form a cation-carbon mixture; —adding an anion-containing medium to the mixture of the cation-containing medium and carbon surfaces to form a cation-carbon-anion mixture, In the case of alloy nanoparticles, another cation medium is added instead. —leaving the cation-carbon-anion mixture at a temperature of between 60° C. and 300° C. between 10 minutes and 1 week, depending on the system. |