Synthesis and properties of (Fe, Ni)-doped zinc sulfide nanopowders

Abstract

Pure and (Fe, Ni)-doped ZnS nanopowders have been successfully synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method using Poly Vinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP) as capping agent. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies reveal that the synthesized powders are in cubic blended structure. The average crystalline size of pure and doped ZnS nanopowder conform around 2–3 nm. In the investigations, Ni is kept constant at 3 mol% and Fe is increased from 1 to 5 mol%. Transition electron microscopy (TEM) is also used to investigate the average size of the nanopowders. TEM results are reasonably in good agreement. SEM micrographs of the (Fe, Ni)-doped nanopowders result in agglomeration with spherical in shape. The EDAX spectra show the chemical composition of dopants is uniform in ZnS. Optical absorption spectra show the absorption edge at 310 nm. Photoluminescence (PL) studies are conducted with excitation wavelength of 306 nm. Pure ZnS exhibits sharp emission peaks at 438 nm, 450 nm and 466 nm. (Fe, Ni)-doped ZnS samples also exhibit the sharp emission peaks at 450 nm and 467 nm with decreasing intensity. The magnetic measurements reveal that 5 mol% Fe- and 3 mol% Ni-doped ZnS nanopowders exhibit a weak ferromagnetic behavior.