Optical and structural properties of gold nanoparticle aggregates and manganese(2+), copper(2+), and silver(1+) doped zinc selenide nanoparticles

The optical properties of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles may potentially be exploited in opto-electronic devices, but one needs to know how the optical properties of these materials are affected by the structural properties. In the case of the nanoparticles formed by the reduction of HAuCl4 by Na2S the changes in absorption spectrum over time are likely the result of changes in the structure of gold nanoparticles aggregates and not the formation of a gold shell on gold sulfide nanoparticles. For ZnSe nanoparticles doped with Mn2+, Cu2+, or Ag 1+ (ZnSe:Mn, ZnSe:Cu, ZnSe:Ag) the emission properties of the particles are influenced by the local environment and location of the dopant ion in the nanoparticle. In both cases the relationship between the structural and optical properties were elucidated by using TEM, XAFS, SAXS and other techniques.