Wet Chemistry Synthesis of Semiconductor Gold/Cu_1.96S Nanorod and Study of its Photoluminescence Properties

In the past decade, preparation of low-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures has become a hotspot of materials research because of their attractive optical and electrical properties. Semiconductor nanoparticles have found wide spread application in varied fields of engineering. Since, p-type semiconductors, copper sulfides (Cu_1.96S) were used in solar cells, optical filters and supersonic materials. In this work, we report on the synthesis of Cu_1.96S semiconductor nanocomposites in the presence of PVP via a wet chemistry process and then covered by a layer of gold nanoparticles. Formation of a pure CuS phase, in the presence of a PVP nanostructure was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Size and morphology of as-prepared nanostructure were studied using Transmission Electron Microscopic (TEM) images. The results revealed the formation of a dense Cu_1.96S and roughly spherical nanoparticles with an average diameter of about 25-35 nm coated homogeneously with gold nanoparticle. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements of the prepared samples showed enhanced blue-green emission (350 to 600) nm and red emission from 600 to 800nm.