Synthesis of size tuneable cadmium sulphide nanoparticles from a single source precursor using ammonia as the solvent

Abstract

Size tuneable cadmium sulphide nanoparticles of a few nanometres in size were prepared by thermolysis of a single source precursor of cadmium xanthates with variable carbon chain length (Cd(ROCS2)2, where R denotes -C2H5, -C4H9, -C 8H17 and -C12H25, respectively) in an ammonia solution. The particle size, morphology and crystallinity of these nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray powder diffractometry, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen adsorption/desorption techniques. The results show that hexagonal CdS nanoparticles can be produced by thermolysis of cadmium alkyl xanthate in an ammonia solution at a temperature as low as 100 °C. The size of CdS particles (between 5.60 nm and 3.71 nm) decreases with increasing length of carbon chain in the precursor, as further confirmed by UV-visible and fluorescence spectrophotometric measurements. The size tuning mechanism of CdS from cadmium alkyl xanthate is also discussed. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.