Optimization and photophysics of cadmium selenide nanoparticles

CdSe nanocrystallites of different sizes were prepared in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) photopolymer films. Particle sizes were optimized by variation in the Cd to Se ions ratio up to 16:1 as well as doping in PVA. X-ray diffraction shows that the degree of crystallinity of PVA was found to decrease due to doping with CdSe NPs and having a cubic unit cell. The UV-vis absorption spectra for the CdSe NPs in both solutions and PVA films showed blue shifts with increasing the ratio of Cd ion leading to the decrease of the particle size. The photoluminescence spectra resulting from 441.5 nm He-Cd excitation of CdSe NPs in PVA show the same behavior of absorption spectra. A blue shift in most of the FT-IR and FT-Raman bands of PVA was observed due to the interaction between PVA and CdSe NPs, which increase by decreasing the particle size. The conductivity of PVA was found to increase by decreasing the particle size of CdSe NPs. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.