Study on Raman spectra of zinc selenide nanopowders synthesized by hydrothermal method

Zinc selenide nanopowders with different structures were synthesized from sodium hydroxide solution by hydrothermal method at different temperatures with zinc and selenium powders as the precursors. The powders composed of different nanostructures were investigated by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The results indicate that the products have zincblende structure and become inhomogeneous with increasing temperature. The peaks in the Raman spectra relate to zinc selenide and impurity. In addition, the Raman spectra show that the shapes of the Raman peaks depend on the structure and size of the zinc selenide particles in powders. It also shows that the Raman scattering is greatly enhanced when the size of the zinc selenide particles is about 10 nm, which relates to the resonance scattering.

Research highlightsIn this paper, there are two highlights which the Raman spectra of the ZnSe nanopowders show the interface peak at about 123 cm−1 and the resonance scattering occurs when the size of the ZnSe nanoparticles is about 10 nm. We explained the production of the interface peak and the resonance scattering.