Structural and optical properties of neodymium doped lead chalcogenide (PbSe) nanoparticles

Wet chemical precipitation technique is successfully exploited to synthesize Neodymium undoped and doped lead selenide precipitated particles at pH 5.0. Structural analysis reveals the face centered cubic structure and particle size are found to be in the range of 25–40 nm. The electron microscopic analysis clearly depicts the nanophase formation and EDAX confirmed the purity and stoichiometry ratio of the prepared samples. FT-IR analysis confirms the stretching vibration of PbSe and NH bending of hydrazine hydrate are observed at 707 cm−1 and 1500 cm−1, respectively. The strong blue shift in the UV–vis absorption region (560 nm) confirms the nano dimensional state of Pb1−xNdxSe nano particles. The varying dopant concentration influences the particle size, surface morphology and energy gap of the nanostructured lead selenide.