Surface chemistry controls crystallinity of ZnS nanoparticles

Combined small-angle and high energy wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements of nanoparticle size and structure permit interior strain and disorder to be observed directly in the real-space pair distribution function (PDF). PDF analysis showed that samples of ZnS nanoparticles with similar mean diameters (3.2-3.6 nm) but synthesized and treated with different low-temperature procedures possess a dramatic range of interior disorder. We used Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to detect the surface species and the nature of surface chemical interactions. Our results suggest that there is a direct correlation between the strength of surface-ligand interactions and interior crystallinity.