Effect of Cd2+ Concentration on the CdS Crystallites Prepared by Microwave Hydrothermal Process

Cadmium sulphide (CdS) crystallites were successfully prepared by a microwave hydrothermal (M–H) process using cadmium chloride (CdCl2·H2O) and sodium thiosulfate (Na2S2O3·5H2O) as source material with different Cd2+ concentration. The phase, composition, morphology and optical property of the obtained crystallites were characterized by X–ray diffraction (XRD), field–emission scanning electron microscopy (FE–SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometer (UV–Vis). Results show that the crystalline structure of the prepared CdS crystallites changes regularly with the increase of Cd2+ concentration and the corresponding morphology of CdS crystallites transforms from tetrahedron to quasi-sphere. The quasi-spherical CdS is derived from the nanoparticles-assembly behavior. And with the increase of Cd2+ concentration, the decrease in CdS crystallite size is observed. Obvious blue–shift is detected in the UV–Vis absorption when Cd2+ concentration reaches 0.60 mol/L.

CdS Window Layer for Large Open Circuit Voltages of Low Environmental-Load CdS/CdTe Solar Cells

The low ‘environmental-load’ CdS/CdTe solar cells for reducing consumption of Cd compounds have been investigated employing the CdS layers fabricated at various substrate temperatures, TCdS, and a conversion efficiency of 14.1% has been achieved. The nanostructure of CdS crystallites made at different TCdS are compared to the crystallinity of CdS, and CdTe deposited on CdS as well as sulfur fraction in CdTe1-xSx mixed crystal layer unintentionally formed at CdS/CdTe(S) interface. The photovoltaic performances, especially obtained relative high open circuit voltages, are discussed in conjunction with the structural properties as well as electrical properties of the solar cells. The solar cells show a relative high Voc due to the large CdTe grains as well as the narrow depletion layer width. Besides, preventing deterioration of the CdS/CdTe(S) interface is found to be quite effective for achieving high open circuit voltages and fill factors.

Absorption and Photoluminescence Study of Cds Quantum Dots: The Role of Host Matrix and Nanocrystal Size and Density

ABSTRACTIn this paper we present results of the absorption and photoluminescence (PL) of CdSdoped Si02 films fabricated by RF co-sputtering (semiconductor volume fraction f=1–15%, nano-crystallite's mean size 5–7nm) and matrix-free films of close-packed CdS nanocrystallites (f∼30%, size 2–5nm) produced by an original chemical method. The absorption spectra have been modelled using the modified Maxwell-Garnett model. This gives the e-h pair state energies and evidence of a strong absorption in the glass matrix containing CdS. The temperature dependence of the spectral position and broadening of the PL peak is analysed. It is concluded that a photo-generated hole is captured on an acceptor-type trap before the radiative recombination with a confined electron. The excitation of this ‘band-edge’ PL occurs through some states in the matrix and directly in the CdS crystallites for the two kinds of samples, respectively. The temperature coefficients of the optical transition energies for the nearly matrix-free films are similar to those of bulk CdS, while for the CdS/glass films they are smaller. This may be because of the different boundary conditions for the thermal expansion of CdS crystallites.

Nucleotides as Structural Templates for The Self-Assembly of Quantum-Confined Cds Crystallites

ABSTRACTWe report here the use of nucleotides as stabilizers in the formation of quantum-confined (‘Q-size’) CdS, with the size and composition of the nucleotide exerting a significant effect on the resultant CdS structure. In general, CdS formed from equimolar Cd+2 and S2− (6 × 10−4 M) in the presence of a number of nucleotides yields clusters possessing similar absorption spectra but which differ significantly with respect to emissive behavior and overall physical stability. CdS/polynucleotide colloids (DNA, poly [A], poly[C]) exhibit strong trap luminescence and are stable on a timescale of months, but analogous CdS prepared from the mononucleotides ATP and AMP are virtually nonemissive and flocculate within hours, even upon stabilization at lower temperatures (5 to −60°C). In addition to their preparation and spectroscopic properties, the results of TEM, AFM, and computer modeling studies on these CdS/nucleotide colloids are discussed.

Arrested Solid-Solid Phase Transition in Semiconductor Nanocrystals

ABSTRACTCdS crystallites of 40 and 45 Å average diameter have been studied under hydrostatic high pressure by optical absorption. The optical absorption onset is observed to shift to higher energy with pressure according toThis is exactly the same shift with pressure as is observed in the bulk. The solid-solid phase transition from the zincblende to the NaCl phase is observed as an abrupt change in the intensity, intercept, and functional form of the absorption onset. The phase transition, which occurs at 27Kbar in bulk CdS, is shifted to 85 Kbar in nanocrystals stabilized with polyphosphate, and to 60 Kbar in nanocrystals surface derivatized with EDTA. It thus appears possible to control the relative stability of the crystalline phases of a nanocrystal by chemical manipulation of the surface.

Room Temperature Excitonic Absorption in Small Cds Crystallites

The absorption characteristics of commercial CdS-containing yellow glass which shows constant transmitted intensity over a range of incident CW laser intensity have been studied at room temperature. Although the thick specimen (t>0.6 mm) shows only a broad step-like feature near λ>460 nm, a thin (t-0.09 mm) specimen shows two absorption features which can be interpreted as the first two quantum-confined exciton absorption features corresponding to a crystallite size of -45 Å. The absorption spectrum of a sample (t∼O.6 mm) heated for 15 min. at 700°C shows two new absorption features at 450 nm and 380 nm, which correspond to a much smaller crystallite size of -25 Å. This reduction in size is not inconsistent with estimates made from a well-known model for crystallite growth. Some consequences of these changes in the absorption features on the optical nonlinearities of the glass will be discussed.

Electronic processes in small semiconductor particles

An intense nanosecond pulse of light is used to create electron-hole pairs in small CdS crystallites (containing ca. 10 2 atoms) suspended in a liquid. Electronic processes within the crystallite are monitored by measuring the changes of oxidation state of a redox indicator partitioned between the crystallite surface and the bulk liquid. The observed time course of these changes is analysed by the method of competition kinetics, and numerical values of key microscopic parameters (recombination rate constant, trap concentration and depth, interfacial electron transfer rate constant, etc.) are determined. An unexpected result is that the trapping cross section for the shallow electron traps is much greater than in bulk CdS.