Effect of particle size on activation energy and peak temperature of the thermoluminescence glow curve of undoped ZnS nanoparticles.

This paper reports the effect of particle size on the thermoluminescence (TL) of undoped ZnS nanoparticles. ZnS nanoparticles were prepared using a chemical precipitation method in which mercaptoethanol was used as the capping agent. The nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission gun-scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. When the concentrations of mercaptoethanol used are 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.015, 0.025, 0.040 and 0.060 M, the sizes of the nanoparticles are 2.86, 2.81, 2.69, 2.40, 2.10, 1.90 and 1.80 nm, respectively. Initially, the TL intensity of UV-irradiated ZnS nanoparticles increases with temperature, attains a peak value Im for a particular temperature Tm, and then decreases with further increases in temperature. The values of both Im and Tm increase with decreasing nanoparticle size. Whereas the activation energy decreases slightly with decreasing nanoparticle size, the frequency factor decreases significantly as the nanoparticle size is reduced. The order of kinetics for the TL glow curve of ZnS nanoparticles is 2. Expressions are derived for the dependence of activation energy (Ea) and Tm on nanoparticle size, and good agreement is found between the experimental and theoretical results.