Total Energy and Electronic States of CdSe Nanoparticles

The authors fulfilled calculations of the total energy and electronic states of Cd_(n)Se_(n) nanoparticle:“wurzite”,“sphalerite”and“rock-salt”types of the structure.It was shown that at n≤72 the“rock-salt”type is the most favorable energetically.However the extrapolation of the behavior of the energy per Cd-Se atomic pair shows that for n>130(corresponding to a size of about 2 nm),particles with a“wurtzite”structure can be more advantageous.Particles of the“wurtzite”and“rock-salt”types have an electronic structure with an energy gap.For particles with the“wurtzite”structure,the gap width decreases with increasing particle size:from 3.3 eV to 2.2 eV as the particle increases from 0.5 nm to 1.5 nm.For particles of the“rock-salt”type,the gap width grows slightly,remaining about 3 eV.“Sphalerite”-type particles have a metal-like electronic structure.

Electronic Structure of CdS Nanoparticles and CdSe/CdS Nanosystems

The electronic states of“wurtzite”CdS nanoparticles and CdSe/CdS nanosystems with up to 80 pairs of Cd-Se or CdS atoms were calculated.The results for CdS particles were compared with the results obtained earlier for CdSe particles of the same size and with published calculations of other authors.The calculated gap values in the range of 2.84 eV~3.78 eV are typical for CdS particles of studied sizes in accordance with results of published data.The CdSe/CdS nanosystems were considered as layered ones and as quantum dots.The layered CdSe/CdS systems with two-layer CdS coverings can be interpreted in terms of combinations of two semiconductors with different energy band gaps(2.6 eV and 3.3 eV),while analogous systems with single-layer CdS coverings do not demonstrate a two-gap electron structure.Simulation of a CdSe/CdS quantum dot shows that the single-layer CdS shell demonstrates a tendency for the formation of the electronic structure with two energy gaps:approximately of 2.5 eV and 3.0 eV.