Influence of surfactant structures in luminescence enhancement dynamics during nucleation and growth of aqueous ZnS nanoparticles and their photoactivation due to illumination with UV/visible light

Nanostructured semiconductor architectures have attractive optical properties mainly including bright photoluminescence (PL) resulting from the radiative recombination of charge carriers on surface states. Various approaches have been employed for the modification of surface states of these nanostructures to design new nanomaterials with enhanced PL primarily in aqueous medium to enable their applications in biological samples. Here, we report the varying efficiencies of three commercial surfactants viz. cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPyC) on the dynamics of PL emission enhancement during initial growth and Ostwald ripening of ZnS nanoparticles (NPs). The counterion has been estimated to behave differently to govern the PL enhancement. The exceptionally high tendency of CPyC in PL enhancement has been assigned to participation of π-electrons of pyridinium ring. The impact of UV-light in photoactivation of surfactant stabilized ZnS NPs has been utilized in exploring significance of surfactants in improving the surface emitting states in water soluble semiconductor NPs.