Rietveld refinement of CdSe phases annealed under argon atmosphere

Hexagonal and cubic cadmium selenide were prepared from a chemical route by using cadmium chloride and potassium selenium hydride obtained from reaction of selenium powder and potassium boron hydride. The product obtained was thermally treated under argon flux at 300, 500 and 600 °C for 2 h and characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The X-ray diffraction data were refined by Rietveld method and the structural parameters were determined for the phases of each annealed samples. At 300 °C five phases were identified: Cubic and hexagonal cadmium selenides and the contaminants: Potassium chloride, boron oxide and cadmium boron oxide. At 500 and 600 °C only the hexagonal cadmium selenide phase was identified besides the other above mentioned contaminant.