In situ fabrication of mesoporous CdS nanoparticles in microemulsion by gamma ray irradiation

A facile and efficient method is described for the in situ synthesis of mesoporous CdS semiconductor nanoparticles by gamma ray irradiation in oil-in-water microemulsion. The prepared mesoporous CdS nanoparticles were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), electron diffraction (ED), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) gas sorptometry. The mesoporous structure of CdS nanoparticles is well-characterized by TEM and XRD. The obtained mesoporous CdS nanoparticles possessed a high surface area of 82.6 m2/g and a number of pores with the pore size distribution centered at about 9.4 nm. A possible growth mechanism for the mesoporous structure has been proposed.