DISORDER OF SOLID-SOLUTION OF CDYZN1-Y NANOSIZED PARTICLES PREPARED IN REVERSE MICELLES

We point out here the structural disorder in CdyZn1-yS Solid solution nanoparticles by using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffrac tion and Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure techniques. A zinc b lende structure is deduced from transmission electron microscopy. This is not confirmed by X-ray diffraction and is explained in terms of st ructural disorder der. From the disappearance of the second neighbor s ignal and the observed data for first neighbors in EXAFS, it is conclu ded that there is angular disorder between bonds on the same atom. Fur thermore, the percentage of cadmium atoms at the interface is higher t han that of zinc atoms. An increase in the dangling bond for the cadmi um and a high coordination number for zinc is observed. We discuss the origin of these findings and their expected consequences. (C) 1997 Ac ta Metallurgica Inc.