Effect of silver doping on the elastic properties of CdS nanoparticles

Abstract

CdS and Ag doped CdS (CdS/Ag) nanoparticles have been prepared via chemical method from a Cadmium acetate precursor and Thiourea. The synthesized CdS and CdS/Ag nanoparticles have been characterized by the X-ray Diffraction and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope. Here, these nanoparticles have been synthesized at room temperature and all the characterization have also been done at room temperature only. The XRD results reveal that the products are crystalline with cubic zinc blende structure. HRTEM images show that the prepared nanoparticles are nearly spherical in shape. Williamson–Hall method and Size-Strain Plot (SSP) have been used to study the individual contribution of crystalline sizes and lattice strain on the peak broadening of the CdS and CdS/Ag nanoparticles. The different modified model of Williamson–Hall method such as, uniform deformation model, uniform stress deformation model and uniform energy density deformation model and SSP method have been used to calculate the different physical parameter such as lattice strain, stress and energy density for all diffraction peaks of the XRD, corresponding to the CdS and silver doped CdS (CdS/Ag). The obtained results reveal that the average particle size of the prepared CdS and CdS/Ag nanoparticles estimated from the HRTEM images, Williamson–Hall analysis and SSP method are highly correlated with each other. Further, all these result confirms that doping of Ag significantly affects the elastic properties of CdS.