ZnSe nanoparticles of different sizes: Optical and photocatalytic properties

ZnSe nanoparticles (NPs) with different sizes from 7 to 21 nm were successfully prepared by a solvothermal method in the absence of surfactants. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, and photoluminescence were used to study the effect of reaction time on the sizes and optical properties of ZnSe NPs. The XRD analysis revealed that all the samples were the cubic zinc-blonde structure. The particles size increased from 7 to 21 nm with increasing reaction time. The room-temperature PL spectra showed that the near-band-edge emission peak displayed an abnormal red-shift ranging from 472 to 479 nm when the particle size decreased from 21 to 7 nm, and the intensity of the peak decreased. The photocatalytic activities of the ZnSe NPs of different sizes were also investigated. The ZnSe NPs with smaller particle size had better photocatalytic activities than that with larger particle size for the degradation of Rhodamine B under UV radiation. And the photodegraclation of Rhodamine B catalyzed by the ZnSe nanoparticles was a pseudo-first-order reaction. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.