Solvothermal synthesis of well-dispersed ZnSe microspheres

Well-defined crystalline ZnSe microspheres have been fabricated successfully via a simple solvothermal route under mild conditions in the presence of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid disodium salt (Na2EDTA) and octadecylamine (ODA). X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and photoluminescence spectra (PL) were used to characterize the phase structures, morphologies, and properties of the products. The result of XRD demonstrated that we obtained ZnSe products crystallized well with a stilleite structure. The influencing elements such as reaction time, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), addition of chelating reagent Na2EDTA, and the water/ethanol volume ratio were investigated, and the possible formation mechanism was also proposed. Furthermore, the experimental result indicated that ZnSe microspheres showed blue emission under ultraviolet excitation.

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► Well-crystallized ZnSe microspheres have been successfully synthesized.
► The influence of the dosage of NaOH and amount of Na2EDTA were clearly shown.
► The water/ethanol volume ratio has a strong effect on the ZnSe microspheres.
► The growth mechanism and process for the formation of final samples were proposed.