Preparation and characterization of ZnSe nanoparticles by mechanochemical process

Nanocrystalline ZnSe powder was prepared by mechanochemical process from Zn and Se pure granules. Zn and Se granules transformed to powder during mechanochemical reaction and ZnSe phase was observed after milling time of 16 min by XRD measurements. The crystallite size was measured to be 9–10 nm, while the powder particle size was found to be in the range 90–500 nm in the milling time range 20–60 min as measured by size analyzer and SEM. The homogeneity of the powder was confirmed by EDX analysis. The optical band gap was estimated from optical absorbance curve and possess the value in the range 2.58–2.95 eV. The absorbance peak was observed to be wider according the wide distribution of the crystallite size which affect on the energy gap according to energy gap confinement.