Optical absorption, photoluminescence and structural analysis of CdS quantum dots in weak confinement

Abstract

The diffusion-controlled growth of CdS quantum dots (QDs) dispersed in a silicate glass matrix was investigated. It was found that the size of CdS QDs can be controlled by either heat treatment at various temperatures for a fixed duration or varying times at a constant temperature. Pastel yellow colored glass samples were obtained due to the presence of CdS petite crystals. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used for determining the average dot size which varied from 3.8 to 30 nm. The typical quantum confinement effect was clearly observed from the blue shift measured in the optical absorption edge with decreasing dot size in the absorption spectroscopy. The band gap of CdS QDs ranges from 2.41 to 2.82 eV. Measured photoluminescence (PL) at an excitation wavelength of 350 nm showed the red shift of emission wavelength with increasing thermal treatment time and temperature in agreement with the increasing dot sizes. The half-width of PL spectra seems to indicate qualitatively the size distribution of dots and is consistent with the treatment parameters.