Effect of the size and structure factors on the magnetic susceptibility of nanoparticles of cadmium sulfide

Abstract

The dependence of the Van Vleck component of the magnetic susceptibility of nanostructured cadmium sulfide CdS on the geometry and structure of CdS nanoparticles has been established by analyzing the data obtained from diffraction and magnetic measurements. It has been found that a decrease in the size of wurtzite CdS nanoparticles leads to an increase in the degree of distortion of the sp 3 orbitals (i. e., the degree of covalence), which reaches a limiting value for elongated particles with an average size of 9 nm. In particles with smaller sizes, the character of the orbital distortion sharply changes, and the Van Vleck contribution returns to the value typical of coarse-grained CdS. Nanoparticles less than 9 nm in size have a specific disordered close-packed structure and a centrosymmetric shape. The data obtained have made it possible to understand the reason of the dimensional phase transition from the crystalline state to a specific nanostate of cadmium sulfide. © 2012 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.