Effect of Al doping on the structural, optical and photoluminescence properties of ZnS nanoparticles

Un-doped and Al doped ZnS nanoparticles were prepared via an efficient and low cost chemical co-precipitation method using Poly Ethylene Glycol (PEG) as stabilizer. In the present study effect of Al concentration on the morphological, structural, and optical properties is studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Raman analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) studies. XRD, TEM, FTIR and Raman analysis indicated the formation of impurity-free nanocrystals with cubic structure. DRS studies revealed that as the Al dopant concentration increases the band gap increases in the range of 3.73-4.01 eV. The PL spectra of all samples exhibit a broad emission band in the range of 350-650 nm. The Gaussian fitting emission bands for ZnS are located at 382, 398, 417 and 445 nm. For Al doped ZnS nanoparticles in addition to the pure ZnS peaks two extra peaks are observed at 472 and 493 nm. Further, enhanced photoluminescence was observed with increasing Al content up to 8 at.% and beyond this photoluminescence quenching was noticed.