Effect of temperature on the optical and structural properties of hexadecylamine capped ZnS nanoparticles using Zinc(II) N-ethyl-N-phenyldithiocarbamate as single source precursor

Reported in this work is the synthesis of HDA (hexadecylamine)-capped ZnS nanoparticles by a single source route using Zinc(II) N-ethyl-N-phenyldithiocarbamate as a precursor. By varying the growth temperature, the temporal evolution of the optical properties and morphology of the nanocrystals were investigated. The as-synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using UV–vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). All the particles exhibited quantum confinement in their optical properties with band edge emission at the early stage of the reaction. The XRD showed transition from hexagonal wurtzite phase to cubic sphalerite phase as the growth temperature increases. The TEM image showed that the particles are small and spherical in shape while the HRTEM image confirmed the crystalline nature of the material.

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► HDA-capped ZnS nanoparticles were synthesized via thermolysis of a single source precursor.
► Zinc(II) N-ethyl-N-phenyldithiocarbamate was used as the single source precursor.
► The growth temperature was varied to study the optical properties of the nanocrystals.
► Change in growth temperature affects the structural properties of the ZnS nanoparticles.
► Hexagonal wurtzite phase was obtained at lower temperatures while cubic sphalerite phase was obtained at higher growth temperatures.