A rapid, sustainable,
and ecologically sound approach is urgently
needed for the production of semiconductor nanomaterials. CuSe nanoparticles
(NPs) were synthesized via a microwave-assisted technique using CuCl
2
·2H
2
O and Na
2
SeO
3
as
the starting materials. The role of the irradiation time was considered
as the primary concern to regulate the size and possibly the shape
of the synthesized nanoparticles. A range of characterization techniques
was used to elucidate the structural and optical properties of the
fabricated nanoparticles, which included X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive
X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), atomic force microscopy, field emission
scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy (Raman), UV–Visible
diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and photoluminescence spectroscopy
(PL). The mean crystallite size of the CuSe hexagonal (Klockmannite)
crystal structure increased from 21.35 to 99.85 nm with the increase
in irradiation time. At the same time, the microstrain and dislocation
density decreased from 7.90 × 10
–4
to 1.560
× 10
–4
and 4.68 × 10
–2
to 1.00 × 10
–2
nm
–2
, respectively.
Three Raman vibrational bands attributed to CuSe NPs have been identified
in the Raman spectrum. Irradiation time was also seen to play a critical
role in the NP optical band gap during the synthesis. The decrease
in the optical band gap from 1.85 to 1.60 eV is attributed to the
increase in the crystallite size when the irradiation time was increased.
At 400 nm excitation wavelength, a strong orange emission centered
at 610 nm was observed from the PL measurement. The PL intensity is
found to increase with an increase in irradiation time, which is attributed
to the improvement in crystallinity at higher irradiation time. Therefore,
the results obtained in this study could be of great benefit in the
field of photonics, solar cells, and optoelectronic applications.