1 research outputs found
Twin-Tail Surfactant Peculiarity in Superficial Fabrication of Semiconductor Quantum Dots: Toward Structural, Optical, and Electrical Features
A solitary
tread hydrothermal synthesis of lead telluride (PbTe) and copper telluride
(Cu<sub>(2–<i>x</i>)</sub>Te) nanoparticles (NPs)
at 150 °C was carried out using cationic twin-tail surfactant
(TTS) dimethylenebisÂ(dodecyldimethylammonium bromide) (12-2-12) as
a capping agent. UV–vis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been
employed to elaborate about structural and physicochemical aspects
of NPs. The morphology and the capping behavior have been revealed
through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy (FTIR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electron
micrographs clearly demonstrated the formation of cubic shaped PbTe
NPs with average size distribution ≅ 20 ± 5 nm. A perversely
spherical morphology has been observed for Cu<sub>(2–<i>x</i>)</sub>Te NPs with average size ≅15 ± 6 nm.
The interactions of the adsorbed capping surfactant TTS on the metal
surface and alignment of the molecules were confirmed from FTIR studies.
The crystallite sizes and lattice strain on the peak broadening of
the NP have been measured using Williamson–Hall analysis and
the size–strain plot method. The optical band gap energy of
NP, as determined from the absorbance spectrum, was 0.5 eV for lead
telluride, while that for copper telluride was 3.4 eV owing to quantum
confinement driven shift from bulk materials to nanoscale. The electrical
conductivity of lead telluride and copper telluride was found to be
0.01–0.07 and 2.18–10.1 S cm<sup>–1</sup>, respectively