Synthesis and growth mechanism of Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S nanohexagon dendrite

¹ Wenhua College, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China
² Department of Physics, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, P.R. China

^a e-mail: yw.whu@hotmail.com

Received: 24 June 2014
Revised: 8 October 2014
Accepted: 15 October 2014
Published online: 25 November 2014

Abstract

Hierarchical Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S nanohexagon dendrites were synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal method. The Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S nanohexagon dendrites were made up of nanohexagons with a side length of about 90 nm. The nanohexagons were regularly arranged forming as embranchments which were parallel to each other along certain hexagonal directions. Furthermore, these embranchments made up primary trunks shaping as dendrites. The growth mechanism of Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S nanohexagon dendrites was proposed in which molecular soft template and lowest energy principle played key roles. By adjusting the composition of the reactants, a series of Zn_xCd_1–xS solid solutions could be obtained. The morphology of the synthesized Zn_xCd_1–xS depended much on the x value. The UV-vis spectra absorb edges of the Zn_xCd_1–xS samples continuously shifted indicating the changes of the band gap.