ZnS), 6 going through the visible range ( e.g. 5 A variety of SNPs in solution have been synthesized, whose absorbance spectra cover diverse ranges of UV-Vis spectra, from UV ( e.g. These SNPs with confined electrons and holes are of wide interest for building devices 1 such as solar cells, 2,3 light emitting diodes 4 or sensors. 1 Introduction Semiconductor nanoparticles (SNPs) with a radius less than the exciton Bohr radius ( r exc) behave as “artificial atoms” or quantum dots (Q-dots), exhibiting unique and size tunable optical properties. Finally, a web app that implements the methodology of this work has been developed. The PSDs obtained from the proposed method do not show any statistical difference with the one derived from TEM images. Additional composite systems were studied in order to extend the method to SNPs in polymers or bacteria, proving that it applies to several SNPs in diverse matrices. In particular, CdS SNPs embedded in mesoporous thin films were analyzed in detail. The method was validated against the SNP sizes obtained from transmission microscopy images, showing excellent agreement between both distributions. In this work, we present a non-destructive, cheap and in situ procedure to calculate particle size distributions (PSDs) of SNPs in different media based on deconvolution of the absorbance spectrum with a database of the absorbance spectra of SNPs with different sizes. In most cases, they are included in complex matrices which make it difficult to determine their average diameter and statistical distribution. Their size strongly determines their properties, thus characterizing their size is crucial for applications. Semiconductor nanoparticles (SNPs) are excellent candidates for various applications in fields like solar cells, light emitting diodes or sensors. E-mail: Tel: +5411-52858579 c Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón I, Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EHA-Buenos Aires, Argentina d Center for High-resolution Electron Microscopy (CħEM), School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, 393 Middle Huaxia Road, Pudong, Shanghai 201210, China e Laboratorio de Microscopías Avanzadas (LMA), Aragon Institute of Nanoscience (INA), University of Zaragoza, Mariano Esquillor, Edificio I+D, 50018, Zaragoza, Spain f Aragon Nanoscience Institute (INA), University of Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain 25 de Mayo 1021, San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina b Instituto de Química, Física de los Materiales, Medioambiente y Energía (INQUIMAE-CONICET), DQIAQF, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón II, Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EHA-Buenos Aires, Argentina. * b a Instituto de Nanosistemas, Universidad Nacional de San Martin, Av. Nanoscale Adv., 2019, 1, 3499-3505 Diameter distribution by deconvolution (DdD): absorption spectra as a practical tool for semiconductor nanoparticle PSD determination †

Quantum dot absorption spectra