Fabrication and photoluminescence properties of large-scale hierarchical CdS dendrites

Abstract Large-scale hierarchical CdS dendrites were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method using 3CdSO4·8H2O and SC(NH2)2 as the original reactant. X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, selected-area electronic diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were carried out to characterize the product. The room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) reveals that the as-prepared CdS products have visible emission of about 485, 561 and 617 nm, and an infrared red (IR) emission centered at 750 nm. The possible photoluminescence mechanisms are proposed in this report. The photoluminescence of CdS dendrites enables them to have great applications in optoelectronic devices.