Synthesis and characterization of ZnTe nanoparticles

Abstract

In this work, we report the ZnTe semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) prepared by aqueous chemical precipitation method using the tellurium precursor solution with different zinc compounds. Three batches of ZnTe NPs were synthesized to study the effect of dilution on the size and phase purity of ZnTe. The influence of source compounds and concentrations of the size and structure of NPs were studied. ZnTe NPs have great applications as field-effect transistors and photodetectors. The existing controversy regarding the crystalline structure of ZnTe NPs, whether it is cubic or hexagonal, has been resolved using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) data. The ZnTe NPs possess cubic structure, which is also confirmed by Electron Diffraction (ED) pattern. The average particle size determined from XRD data with the help of Debye-Scherrer equation is about 6 nm. The particle size can be further verified by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) studies.