Observation of Dominant Nuclei and Magic-Sized CdS Nanoparticles in a Single-Phase System

Cadmium sulfide nanoparticles (CdS NPs) were synthesized by using cadmium acetate and thiourea as precursors and sodium oleate as the surfactant under different cadmium acetate concentrations in anhydrous ethanol. Cadmium (Cd) precursor concentration greatly affected the nucleation-growth of CdS NPs. In extremely dilute solution with a Cd precursor concentration of 0.1 mmol · L^-1, an overlapped nucleation and growth corresponding to two pronounced absorption peaks at 310 nm and 350 nm, respectively, was observed. Unparalleled nucleation was dominant within very long reaction time until 10 hours. The nuclei and the resulting magic-sized CdS NPs may be used as seeds to prepare size and shape controllable nanoparticles. On the contrary, at a high Cd precursor concentration (5 mmol · L^-1), nucleation and growth were separated. Only one first exciton absorption peak standing for the growth of regular CdS NPs appeared at 440 nm. Many techniques including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectrometers were applied to characterize the morphology, crystalline structure, and optical properties of CdS NPs.