Synthesis and Characterization of Cadmium-Thioacetamide Nanocomposites Using a Facile Sonochemical Approach: A precursor for Producing CdS Nanoparticles via Thermal Decomposition

In this investigation, we report facile synthesis of cadmium(II)-thioacetamide nanocomposites in the presence and absence of polyvinyl alcohol under ultrasonic irradiations, using cadmium acetate dihydrate (Cd(CH3COO)2.2H2O), potassium iodide (KI), thioacetamide (TAA, CH3CSNH2), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the starting materials. Results show that in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol sizes of the particles reduce. Characterization of the compounds was carried out by determination of melting point, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, 1H-NMR spectroscopy and thermogravimetric-differential thermal analyses (TG/DTA). The thermal decomposition of the polymeric nanocomposite, Cd-thioacetamide/PVA in an autoclave under critical condition led to the formation of spherical cadmium sulfide nanoparticles with an average particle size of about 20 nm. The X-ray diffraction pattern at room temperature revealed that highly pure and crystallized CdS with hexagonal structure were obtained. The sonochemical method resulted in a significant reduction of reaction time, reaction temperature and particle size of the products.