Preparation and characterization of host (mesoporous aluminosilicate material)–guest (semiconductor nanoparticles) nanocomposite materials

We report the optical and structural properties of NiS and CoS nanoparticles in AlMCM-41 zeolite. The samples were obtained by sulfidation of the Ni2+ and Co2+ ion exchange zeolite in a Na2S solution at room temperature. The optical properties of the samples were studied by UV–Vis spectroscopy. Their crystalline structure and morphology were studied by XRD and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the nanoparticles grow outside the mesopore AlMCM-41 matrix. Exciton absorption peaks at higher energy than the fundamental absorption edge of bulk NiS and CoS indicate quantum confinement effects in nanoparticles as a consequence of their small size. The absorption spectra show that the optical band gap varies in the range 3.53–4.47 eV.