Investigation of Structural, Optical and Luminescent Properties of Zinc Sulfide Quantum Dots under the Influence of Acoustic Shockwaves

Zinc sulfide (ZnS) is a promising semiconducting material with its applications in optoelectronics and solar cell technologies. In this research, ZnS QDs were synthesized by co-precipitation technique. The powder X-ray diffraction analysis and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) revealed that as-synthesized ZnS possess a cubic structure in the quantum dot (QD) regime. Furthermore, the compositional purity of as-prepared sample were analyzed using energy dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX). The prepared material was exposed to acoustic shockwaves in a series of 200 and 400 shock pulses using a semi-automatic Reddy tube, an instrument manufactured indigenously to generate acoustic shockwaves having a Mach number of 1.5, a transient temperature and pressure of 520 K and 0.59 MPa. The experimental findings of the present work state that ZnS QDs with a cubic structure are studied under the acoustic shockwave-treated conditions and the effect of high-pressure created on the structural parameters was systematically studied using the PXRD technique. The optical properties were studied using UV-Vis DRS analysis shows a noticeable shift in the absorption wavelength along with the tunable optical band gap energy (Eg). The photoluminescence (PL) spectra showed an increase in the PL intensity at 400 shock-loaded conditions, demonstrating the improved crystallinity and reduction in defects. Finally, the structure-property relationship of ZnS with respect to the strength of shockwave exposure was discussed in detail. The obtained experimental results suggest that ZnS QDs can be suitable for optoelectronics, luminescent devices and durable shockwave-resistant solar energy harvesting systems.