Synthesis and characterization of Ag-chalcogenide nanoparticles for possible applications in photovoltaics

Bottom-up technique has been used to synthesize Ag-chalcogenide nanoparticles. This work reports on the synthesis of Ag₂Se by varying the molar ratio of capping agent and pH of the solution. The synthesized nanoparticles have been characterized in terms of structural parameters using X-ray diffraction. By this technique, various parameters such as crystallite size, dislocation density and strain of the nanoparticles were calculated. The crystallite size decreased with the increase in pH of the solution. The optical characterization was carried out by UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. With the decrease in the crystallite size, a blue shift in the absorption peak of the nanoparticles was observed. These properties are suitable for energy harvesting with the help of photovoltaics.