Novel synthesis of silver selenide nano-powder from silver nitrate and organo-selenium compound

Abstract

Silver selenide nano-powder has been prepared, by use of cycloalkeno-1,2,3-selenadiazole, an organic compound that releases highly reactive form of selenium upon thermolysis. The simple and one-step preparation can be considered a green synthesis. Powder X-ray diffraction pattern revealed that the pure beta silver selenide (β-Ag2Se) is formed and analysis suggests that the particles are much smaller than the bulk powder of this narrow band gap material. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis indicates that the size of the particles are in the range of about <500 nm. Thermal analysis (TGA) revealed a small (1.25%) weight loss due to the presence of organics from the reaction medium. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was used to check the phase transition. It is found that silver selenide shows phase transition at 140 °C that matches well with the reported data.