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Citation: Santhosh Kumar N Govinda D Thirumala Rao G. Synthesis structural and morphological studies of CdS
nanopowder. Int J Chem Sci 2017141:101. © 2017 Trade Science Inc.
Synthesis Structural and Morphological Studies of CdS Nanopowder
Santhosh Kumar N
1
Govinda D
2
and Thirumala Rao G
2
1
Chemistry Division Department of Basic Science and Humanities GMR Institute of Technology Rajam Andhra Pradesh
India
2
Physics Division Department of Basic Science and Humanities GMR Institute of Technology Rajam Andhra Pradesh
India
Corresponding author: Thirumala Rao G Physics Division Department of Basic Science and Humanities GMR Institute
of Technology Rajam Andhra Pradesh India Tel: 08941251592 E-mail: thirumalaphygmail.com
Received: February 03 2017 Accepted: February 27 2017 Published: March 03 2017
Introduction
Semiconductor nanostructures with typical dimensions of 1-100 nm have been extensively studied because of their optical
electrical properties are dramatically changed while reducing the particle size which can be controlled during synthesis.
Promising applications are expected and already has been realized in many fields of technology such as optoelectronics 1
photocatalysis 2 solar energy conversion 3 water pollutant photo-degradation 4 and biology 5. Chalcogenide
semiconductors such as CdS is a well characterized II-VI group inorganic semiconductor with a wide direct bandgap of 2.42
eV and it has wide application potential in optoelectronics such as nonlinear optics visible-light emitting diodes and lasers
6. Size morphology and dimensionality can strongly affect the properties of nanostructured materials. Recent technological
developments in nanoscience lead to the synthesis of nanostructured materials with various structures and morphologies have
received much attention due to their novel applications fascinating properties and quantum size effects 7. Most of the
researchers focused on the synthesis of low dimensional nanomaterials for the functional nano devices including electrically
driven transistors lasers light emitting diodes and chemical sensors 8-11.
Abstract
Hexagonal wurtzite structured CdS nanopowder was synthesized by using chemical precipitation method. Various
spectroscopic technics were used for the characterization of the prepared sample. X-ray diffraction pattern shows the high intense
crystalline peaks and the average crystallite size is found to be 19 nm. SEM micrographs reveal the non-uniformly distributed
spherical shaped structures. EDS analysis confirms the stoichiometric composition and presence of target elements. FT -IR
spectrum exhibited a metal sulfide band at 615 cm
–1
and other functional groups.
Keywords: Nanopowder Hexagonal wurtzite structure Chemical precipitation X-ray diffraction
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410
Numerous methods have been developed for the synthesis of CdS nanostructures including chemical precipitation method
1213 mechanochemical synthesis 14 ion exchange strategy 1516 solvothermal 17 hydrothermal 18 microwave
assisted sonochemical synthesis 19 sputtering 20 and chemical vapor deposition 21. Among the processes chemical
precipitation method is well suitable for the preparation of nanomaterials having significant advantages including a low
reaction temperature size selective growth morphological control cost effective and large-scale production 22. In the
present investigation the chemical precipitation method is adopted for the synthesis of CdS nanopowder. As prepared
nanopowder was characterized by X-ray diffraction scanning electron microscopy with EDS analysis and Fourier
transformed infrared FT-IR spectroscopy.
Experimental procedure
To prepare the CdS nanopowder the following chemical reagents were used. Cadmium acetate sodium sulfide and ethanol
were used as precursors. All the chemical reagents were analytical grade without further purification and purchased from
Merck chemicals Mumbai India. Deionized water was used for all dilution and sample preparation. All the chemicals are
above 99 in purity. All the glassware used in this experimental work was acid washed.
CdS nanopowder was synthesized by a simple chemical precipitation method. In a conventional method 0.2 M of cadmium
acetate in 50 mL of deionized water-ethanol matrix and an equal molar amount of sodium sulfide in another deionized water-
ethanol matrix was mixed drop by drop with continuous stirring until a homogeneous precipitation was obtained and then
stirred for 4 h. The obtained dispersions were washed several times with deionized water and ethanol to remove impurities.
After washing the solution was centrifuged at 10000 rpm about 30 min. The settled powder was collected and dried in a hot
air oven at 120°C for 2 h. As prepared CdS nanopowder was characterized by following techniques.
Shimadzu XRD 6000 diffractometer was used for the XRD analysis λ1.5406 Å. Morphological details were collected
from SEM ZEISS EVO 18 instruments. Oxford EDS analyzer attached with SEM instrument was used for the chemical
composition analysis. Shimadzu IR-Affinity 1S FT-IR spectrophotometer using KBr pallets was used the FT-IR analysis.
Results and Discussion
X-ray diffraction analysis was performed to obtain the information about the structure and crystallinity of the material. FIG 1
depicts the X-ray diffraction pattern of CdS nanopowder. The sharp and high intense peaks in the XRD pattern may be arises
due to the well-ordered crystal structure of the prepared sample. All the diffraction peaks observed at 2θ25.09 26.53 27.93
36.76 43.85 48.10 51.92 58.13 66.92 71.16 and 72.64 are indexed to the diffraction planes of 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 1 0
2 1 1 0 1 0 3 1 1 2 2 0 2 2 0 3 2 1 1 and 1 1 4 respectively. The diffraction data exhibits the hexagonal
wurtzite structure of CdS with the lattice cell parameters a0.4122 and c6718 nm which are in good agreement with the
standard JCPDS data 65-3414. All the diffraction peaks shift towards higher angles 2θ and lattice cell parameters are
decreases as compared to the standard values which arises due to the reduction of crystallite size of the crystalline
nanopowder. The average crystallite size is evaluated for the maximum intense peak using the most familiar Debye
Scherrer’s formula
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411
D0.9 λ/β cosθ
where D is the average crystallite size λ is the incident wavelength Cu Kα1.5406 β is full width at half maxima FWHM
and θ is the diffraction angle. The average crystallite size is found to be 19 nm. The induced micro strain in the CdS
nanopowder is evaluated using Stokes-Wilson equation
εβ cosθ/4
The micro strain is evaluated as ε1.8477 × 10
–3
. The volume of the hexagonal CdS unit cell V internal parameter u and
Cd-S bond length L are also evaluated using the following relations
V0.866 a
2
c
ua
2
/3c
2
+0.25
L0.3a
2
+0.5–u
2
c
2
1/2
Where a c are the lattice cell parameters. The volume V internal parameter u and bond length L are evaluated as 0.9885
nm
3
0.3755 and 0.2407 nm. It is clear that the lattice volume and bond length are slightly decreases compared to the standard
ones which leads to the lattice contraction of the CdS.
FIG. 1. X-ray diffraction pattern of CdS nanopowder.
SEM with EDS is the most widely used technique for surface morphology and chemical composition analysis. SEM
images of CdS nanopowder at different magnifications are shown in FIG 2. It is clearly observed that the SEM images shows
non-uniformly distributed spherical shaped particle like structures with slight agglomerations. The agglomerations may arises
due to the narrow space between the particles. Further the EDS analysis was performed in order to verify the stoichiometric
chemical composition details. FIG 3 shows the EDS spectrum of CdS nanopowder which exhibits only the characteristic
peaks of Cd and S species. No other peaks observed in the spectrum indicates the purity of the samples.
FIG. 2. SEM micrographs of CdS nanopowder.
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412
FIG. 3. EDS spectrum of CdS nanopowder.
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR spectra have long been used to identify organic and inorganic
materials by measuring the absorption of various infrared light wavelengths. FT-IR spectrum of CdS nanopowder is shown in
FIG 4. The band centered at 615 cm
-1
is attributed to the symmetric stretching vibration of Cd-S 23. The structural changes
are observed at 859 cm
-1
. The bands observed at 1117 cm
-1
is attributed to O-H stretching vibrations of H
2
O molecule 24.
The band at 1414 cm
-1
is assigned to the symmetric stretching vibration of CO 25. The vibrational band centered at 1630
cm
–1
is a characteristic of symmetric bending vibration of H
2
O molecule 26. The symmetric and asymmetric stretching
vibrations of C–H are observed at 2855 and 2926 cm
-1
respectively 27. The broad band observed at 3445 cm
-1
is assigned to
the O–H stretching vibration of H
2
O molecule 28.
FIG. 4. FT-IR spectrum of CdS nanopowder.
Conclusion
The CdS nanopowder was synthesized by using chemical precipitation method. X-ray diffraction pattern exhibited
hexagonal wurtzite structure of CdS. The average crystallite size and Cd-S bond length are evaluated as 19 and 0.2407 nm
respectively. SEM micrographs reveal the non-uniformly distributed spherical shaped particle like structures. EDS spectrum
shows only target elements which reveal that the sample is in good purity and stoichiometric ratio. FT-IR spectrum shows the
metal sulfide band at 615 cm
-1
and other functional groups.
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