US Patent 7253119 - Nanoparticle etching/passivating process

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7253119.html

This patent from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute teaches a fairly interesting way of manufacturing nanoparticles in solution which combines etching to reduce the size of the nanoparticles and passivation to avoid agglomeration. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of making semiconductor nanoparticles, comprising: forming semiconductor nanoparticles of a first size in an aqueous solution; and providing an etching liquid into the solution to etch the semiconductor nanoparticles of the first size to a second size smaller than the first size; wherein the solution contains a passivating element which binds to dangling bonds on a surface of the nanoparticles to passivate the surface of the nanoparticles.