https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2013-40278-y
Regular Article
Synthesis of colloidal CuInSe2 nanoparticles by electrical spark discharge in liquid
Laboratory of Laser Diagnostic of Plasma, B.I.
Stepanov Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus,
Nezalezhnasti Ave.
70, 220072
Minsk,
Belarus
a
e-mail: mamardanian@yahoo.com
Received:
2
May
2013
Received in final form:
6
July
2013
Published online:
18
October
2013
This work presents a low-cost, non-vacuum, and facile process for fabrication of CuInSe2 (CIS) nanoparticles using electrical discharge treatment of mixture of copper, indium, and selenium powders between two tungsten electrodes immersed in pure ethanol. The synthesized particles were characterized by UV-Vis-NIR absorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), Raman spectroscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM). TEM images exhibited that the final product is mainly composed of a large amount of primary nanoparticles typically 10–40 nm in diameter. The band gap energy value of the nanoparticles was estimated to be around 1.2 eV. The XRD pattern of the as-prepared samples besides the main peaks of chalcopyrite tetragonal CIS showed the diffraction peaks which could be attributed to intermediate phases. To omit the intermediate phases and reach to pure CIS nanoparticles the as-prepared in electrical discharge samples were annealed in vacuum at the temperature of 700 °C during 90 min. The XRD and SEM analysis results of annealed samples clearly indicated that chalcopyrite CuInSe2 particles with good crystallinity and near stoichiometric atomic composition were obtained. The composition and crystalline structure of the product was also confirmed by the room-temperature Raman spectrum showing an intense peak at 172 cm-1 corresponding to the A1 phonon mode of tetragonal CuInSe2 chalcopyrite.
Key words: Clusters and Nanostructures
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag 2013