Fabrication and Characterization of CdS Nanoparticles Obtained via Microwave-Assisted Synthesis

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) is an important II-IV semiconductor with a direct band gap of 2.42 eV at room temperature for various applications in optoelectronic, electronic devices and solar cells. Size, structure and morphology of CdS nanoparticles play a major role on the physical and optical properties of CdS thin films.

In the present study a rapid microwave heating method was used to prepare CdS nanoparticles. The reaction mixture consisted of cadmium chloride, cadmium acetate, cadmium nitrate and thiourea precursors. The influence of reaction mixture medium and power on the size and structure of synthesized CdS was investigated. The morphology, structure and composition of the prepared CdS were examined by means of Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis. The optical properties of the CdS thin films deposited onto glass substrates were investigated by means of UV/Vis spectrophotometric measurements.

It has been found that the size and structure of CdS particles synthesized by rapid heating irradiation depend on the alkalinity of reaction mixture and microwave power. The synthesized CdS nanoparticles have a band gap of 2.5 – 2.7 eV.

 Acknowledgement

The work was carried out within the project VP1-3.1-ŠMM-08-K-01-009 that is partly supported by the National Programme “An improvement of the skills of researchers” launched by the Lithuanian Ministry of Education and Science.