Hydrothermal Synthesis of Cu0.66‐xZn0.34+xSe Materials and Investigation of Their Structural, Optical, and Magnetic Properties

Abstract

AbstractIn the current paper, we have prepared Cu0.66‐xZn0.34+xSe materials by varying the concentration of copper and zinc (x=0, 0.085, 0.17, 0.255, 0.34) with the help of a facile one‐step hydrothermal method. The X‐ray diffraction study reveals that the as‐prepared nanomaterials show the polycrystalline property. The crystallinity increases with the variation of Zn concentration, and the average crystallite size was calculated in the 39 to 55 nm range. The morphological analysis shows the uniform and agglomerated particles having an average size of around 596 nm. High‐resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction study reveal the crystalline phases of the prepared sample. The energy‐dispersive X‐ray analysis confirmed the presence of constituent elements in the sample. The sample shows a high optical bandgap in the range of 3.6 eV to 4.09 eV, which was calculated from absorbance spectra. Photoluminescence measurements of the samples were carried out with 532 nm laser excitation, where the defect‐related emission peaks in the 540–850 nm range are observed. A change in the bandgap and optical emission is observed for different compositions. The magnetic properties analysis through the vibrating sample magnetometer reveals that the prepared sample exhibits ferromagnetic behaviour at room temperature, which can be used in magnetic storage applications. The tuning of the optical properties of the samples by varying the copper and zinc concentrations will be useful for various photonic devices.