Synthesis, structural and optical characterization of copper and rare earth doped CdS nanoparticles

Abstract

Cadmium sulphide (CdS) nanoparticles doped with Cu2+ and co-doped with rare earth metallic ions (Ln3+) have been synthesized by co-precipitation method. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction studies (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), particle size by dynamic light scattering (DLS), UV-visible spectroscopy (UV), and photoluminescence (PL) studies. It is observed that CdS nanoparticles can be co-doped with copper and rare earth metallic ions without altering XRD pattern as indicated by X-ray diffraction results. SEM and TEM results show that synthesized particles have spherical aggregation. Absorption spectra of all the samples show strong blue shift from bulk CdS. Interesting luminescence pattern with enhanced intensity has been observed for co-doped CdS nanoparticles at room temperature.