Influence of Temperature, Time, pH, Capping Agent Concentration and Zn/Se Molar Ratio on Morphology and Phase Evolution of Zinc Selenide Nanoparticles Synthesized by Hydrothermal Method

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of temperature, time, pH, capping agent concentration (mercaptoacetic acid), Zn to Se and Se to reducing agent (NaBH4) mole ratios on morphology, phase developments and size of zinc selenide nanoparticles prepared by hydrothermal method. Characterization of zinc selenide nanoparticles was performed by Field Emission Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Induced Coupled Plasma Spectrometry (ICP), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA). The results of EDS showed that the ratio of atomic percentage of Zn to Se in the optimized zinc selenide nanoparticles is 1: 1 and elements are evenly distributed in the nanoparticles. Based on the results of FTIR and STA thermal analyses, MAA as the stabilizing agent binds to and stabilizes zinc selenide nanoparticles. Finally, fine nanoparticles of zinc selenide with narrow size distribution, spherical shape and cubic crystal structure were obtained at the minimum temperature (130 °C) and processing time (15 hours) with the least amount of reducing and capping agents compared to previous researches.