ABSTRACT
Abstract. II-VI semiconductor nanocrystalline particles, which exhibit effects of quantum confinement of electrons and phonons in various optical and electronic properties, have been investigated extensively for recent years. The interaction between the nanoparticles is certainly of great importance for their potential application. In this work, uniformly distributed CdS nanoparticles, with an average size of -3-5 nm, were characterised using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The specimens for HRTEM were obtained by varying the sampling conditions, such as the suspension concentration and evaporation time. It has been found that the CdS nanoparticles can be attracted to each other to form either loosely or closely aggregated nanoclusters with an average size of 30-lOOnm. The closely packed nanoclusters were self-aligned along 'c' axis, which was determined by phase-contrast lattice imaging and selected area electron diffraction. Lowangle grain boundaries (LGBs) were observed between original nanoparticles. This self-alignment phenomenon is believed to be significant for both nanoparticle handling and future device fabrication.
