Phosphine-free synthesis of monodisperse CdSe nanocrystals in olive oil

A new method that uses inexpensive and harmless olive oil as the coordinating solvent and eliminates the need for air-sensitive and toxic trioctylphosphine (TOP), which is commonly used for CdSe nanocrystal synthesis, is presented for the synthesis of highly monodispersed CdSe nanocrystals ranging in diameter between 2.3–6.0 nm which emit over the broad spectral range from 485 to 640 nm with quantum efficiencies of purely band-edge luminescence (FWHM 24–31 nm) as high as 15%.