Varying photoluminescence emission of CdS nanoparticles in aqueous medium: A comparative study on effect of surfactant structure

• PL emission of CdS NPs has substantially governed by ripening time and light irradiation.
• Surfactant/ions adsorption modifies NP’s surface states during radiative or nonradiative recombination.
• Extent of increase/decrease in PL emission intensity is different in different surfactants.
• Various artificial surfactants i.e. SDS, SDBS and CTAB improve the photostability of CdS NPs.
• Incapability of DTAB to stabilize CdS NPs is rationale behind quenching of PL emission.

The photoluminescent (PL) properties of colloidal semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) can be strongly affected by coupling of the organic moieties on their surfaces. A deeper understanding of various factors governing the actual PL emission of Cadmium sulfide (CdS) NPs is important to utilize the same in functional devices. In present work, a comparative investigation on surfactant-structure dependent PL emission of CdS NPs prepared by a convenient chemical precipitation method has been described. By varying the surfactant (stabilizer) species on NP’s surface, the PL emission of CdS NPs varies significantly under similar conditions. Additionally, the effect of photoactivation using normal daylight and UV-light has also been studied on PL of CdS NPs. Photo-dissolution of CdS NPs under both normal as well as UV-light has produced smaller NPs. The PL emission performance of the NPs has also been improved manifold after photoactivation which has been explained in the terms of changing surface states.

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