Homogeneous ZnSe nanocrystals were prepared via surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method. Surfactants agent CTAB was used to control the particle morphology and the growth rate. The structure, morphology and optical properties of ZnSe nanocrystals have been investigated by XRD, TEM and luminescence spectroscopy. The results indicated that the size of ZnSe nanocrystals ranged from 3.0 nm to 5.0 nm with cubic zinc blende structure. ZnSe nanocrystals coated by CTAB were revealed high dispersibility and distribution under TEM. Compared to the bulk ZnSe, the absorption edges and photoluminescence peaks of ZnSe nanocrystals were blue shifted to higher energies due to the quantum confinement effect. The emission intensity was strengthened after coated CTAB compared to bare sample. This was mainly due to the surface passivation. Meanwhile, we simply explored the formation mechanism of ZnSe nanocrystal in hydrothermal system. Keywords: Zinc selenide; Nanocrystals; Surface passivatiom; Photoluminescence Citation: Lingling Peng, Yuhua Wang, Qizheng Dong and Zhaofeng Wang, "Passivated ZnSe nanocrystals prepared by hydrothermal methods and their optical properties", Nano-Micro Lett. 2, 190-196 (2010). doi:10.5101/nml.v2i3. p190-196 Semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs), or quantum dots (QDs), have been extensively studied due to their quantum confinement effects which exhibit unique size dependent electronic and optical properties [1,2]. Narrow and intensive emission spectra, continuous absorption bands, high chemical and photobleaching stability, and surface functionality are among the most attractive properties of these materials, which are not available from either bulk materials or isolated atoms. At present, synthetic procedures have been developed for a few group II-VI and III-V.As one of the Zn-based II-VI compounds, ZnSe is a direct band-gap semiconductor, with one room-temperature band-gap energy and an emission at 2.7 eV making it a potentially good material for blue-diode lasers and other photoelectronic devices [12,13] were also reported. However, all of these methods required special device and usually included toxic metal organic reagents as raw material [14]. It is believed that the most straightforward way to synthesize ZnSe is direct combination of element zinc and selenium at high temperature.Li et al has reported a successful fabrication of ZnSe by hydrothermal method in specific solvents such as pyridine which is virulent, so it must be synthesized at glove-box [15]. Hua Gong et al once reported analogy method at low-temperature and the products presented hollow microsphere and powder [16]. In hydrothermal syntheses, reaction time, temperature, and mole ratios of the precursors and solvent were very important to the
Lingling Peng et al 191Nano -Micro Lett. 2, 190-196 (2010)
Experimental procedureThe starting materials were Se (99.95% A.R.), Zn (90% A.R.), NaOH (96% A.R.), and cetyl trimethy ammonium bromide (CTAB). 12 mol/L NaOH aqueous solutions was poured into a bunsen beaker, and then CTAB was adde...