International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.

55 (2015)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

Analysis of Electrical properties of silver doped cadmium

sulphide Nanocrystallites by Impedance Spectroscopy method
1
Dr.S.Chellammal, 2 Dr.S.Manivannan and 3 R.Sivanand
1 Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Dr.M.G.R. Educational & Research Institute, Chennai, India.
2. Deputy Dean, Dr.M.G.R. Educational & Research Institute, Chennai, India.
3 Assistant Professor, Department of EEE, Dr.M.G.R. Educational & Research Institute, Chennai, India.

Abstract washed with de-ionized water repeatedly and then with

Nanocrystalline sample of Cadmium Sulphide doped with
silver (CdS:Ag) was prepared by chemical precipitation
method. X-ray Diffraction method (XRD) showed the average
size of the prepared sample is 4 nm. EDAX (Energy dispersive
of X-ray analysis) confirmed, the necessary elements present
in the CdS:Ag sample. Studies on electrical properties of the
sample using a complex impedance spectroscopy (CIS)
technique showed a decrease in the bulk resistance with
increase in silver concentration. Further, the nature of cole-
cole plots (Nyquist plots) revealed the presence of bulk and
grain boundary effects in the samples.
Keywords: Impedance, grain, cole-cole plots, Nyquist plots
1.Introduction
Cadmium Sulphide is a II- VI semiconductor with a direct
bandgap of 2.4 eV and has attracted much more attention
because of its many potential applications in electronic devices
such as filters and optical switches. CdS doped with different
transition metals are useful for biomedical applications.
Normally, chemical co-precipitation technique is relatively
less expensive and convenient to prepare large area
semiconductors. At room temperature, materials can easily be
obtained in the precipitated form and dried to get stable
powder. X-ray characterization of the prepared nanocrystallites
has been carried out for the confirmation of structure and also
to obtain the average size of the nanocrystallites. The doping
concentration of silver in CdS has been estimated by energy
dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). Impedance measurements
have been carried out in order to characterize the electrical
properties of the sample and the results are discussed. In nano-
crystalline material both grain and grain boundary effects are
illustrated in terms of electrical properties. The results of this
sample are reported in this paper.
2. Experimental Details
Cadmium sulphide doped with silver (CdS:Ag)
nanocrystallites have been synthesized by the method of
chemical precipitation using the reactants Cadmium Chloride
and Sodium Sulphide with ethylene glycol as the capping
agent at room temperature. The silver nitrate solution 0.01 M
is added to it. The precipitation was carried out over a time of
600 seconds for 100 ml of reflex volume of each of the
reacting solutions. The precipitates were centrifuged and
methanol finally. Then the precipitates were dried in vacuum.
3. Characterization of nanosized CdS:Ag powder sample
The elements present in the prepared sample were estimated
using energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) attached with
scanning electron microscope (SEM). The structural properties
of the sample were investigated by powder X-ray
diffractometer (XRD) with Cu-kα (λ = 1.5420 Ȧ ) as target
material using 40kv accelerating voltage, 30 mA emission
current and in the 2θ range of 20 o – 80 o with a scan rate of 1o
/ min. The impedance measurements were carried out on an
impedance analyzer (model: Solartron SI 1260) with a
frequency range 0.1µHz to 32 MHz and fully automated with a
personal computer which is controlled by software such as Z-
plot / Z-view. This software directly outputs the bulk
resistance, capacitance of the samples. Samples were made
into pellets of thickness of 1 mm and diameter of 8 mm using
hydraulic pressure with 1.75 MPa before analysis in order to
compute electrical conductivities of samples.
4. Results and discussion
To prepare the CdS:Ag nanoparticles through a simple
method is of importance for both the physical research and the
applications in opto-electronics. For doping transition metals
into compound semiconductors, chemical co-precipitation
method is the most conventional method than other synthesis
methods like thermal decomposition, micro emulsion,
hydrothermal synthesis and sonochemical synthesis [1]. It is
cost effective and surfactant or stabilizer can also be added in
the reaction media to produce stable nanoparticles. Hence,
using the method CdS: Ag powder was obtained. Preliminary
XRD study showed that the samples were nanocrystalline in
nature (fig. 1). By using scherrer formula, average size of
nanocrystallites can be calculated as 6 nm.
The samples calcined at 300 0C were found to be
nanocrystalline in nature and these were subjected to various
characterization studies. Typical EDAX pattern of Ag doped
CdS is shown in Fig. 2. It can be seen that only peaks of
cadmium (Cd), silver (Ag) and sulfur(S) were detected,
indicating the formation of CdS:Ag particles.

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 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.55 (2015)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

-350000
o
100 C
-300000

-250000

-200000

ohm
-150000

Z'
-100000

-50000

0 200000 400000 600000 800000 1000000 1200000

Z ohm

Fig.3 represents the impedance spectra for 100o C

-12000000
o
150 C

-10000000

-8000000

-6000000
Z' ohm

-4000000

-2000000

0 5000000 10000000 15000000 20000000 25000000

Z ohm

Fig.3 represents the impedance spectra for 150o C

This circuit models a cell where polarization is due to a
combination of kinetic and diffusion processes. The Nyquist
Plot for this circuit is shown in Figure 3. The electrical
impedance is a complex quantity consisting of resistance and
reactance in its real and imaginary parts, respectively. The
resistance is determined by the conductivity, shape, and size of
a sample. The reactance is determined by its permittivity,
shape, and size. The conductivity is a material property that
includes the effects of the concentrations of mobile charges
and their mobility. The permittivity is also a material property
that includes the effects of the dielectric polarization and
capacitances among microscopic conductive surfaces. In
conventional electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), we
inject a sinusoidal current with constant amplitude and phase
and measure an induced voltage in a chosen frequency range.
Applying Ohm’s law, we can obtain a complex impedance
spectrum, Z(ω) where ω is the angular frequency.

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 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.55 (2015)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

The semicircles are attributed to bulk effect (intra

-60000 granual) and the linear region is ascribed to grain boundary
o
effect (inter granual) [3]. The grain boundaries may act as a
200 C hindrance to the carrier transport or they might also provide a
-50000
high conductivity path (since the defect density may be larger
-40000 in the interface region). Usually, a polycrystalline material
shows both grain and grain boundary effects with different
-30000
time constants leading to two successive semicircles. The
Z' ohm

values of bulk resistance have been evaluated from the

-20000
intercepts of semicircular arc on the real axis (z) and the d.c
(bulk) conductivities of the samples were the pellet computed
-10000
from known geometry of sample.
The resistivities of these samples are strongly
dependent on Ag content and are of the order of a few mega
0
ohm-cm which are very much higher than that of the bulk CdS
0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000 (0.12 ohm - cm at room temperature). The electrical resistivity
Z ohm of the nanocrystalline materials is expected to be higher than
that of coarse grained poly crystalline materials, because of the
increased volume fraction of atom lying in the grain
Fig.3 represents the impedance spectra for 200o C boundaries [4]. Similar high resistivity values for Ag doped
ZnS nanoparticles were reported [5]. Further, this dielectric
(insulating) nature of the samples is also anticipated due to the
-2500 presence of large band gap in the samples.
The resistivities of the samples decrease with
o
250 C increasing Ag content appreciably; this could be understood
-2000
from the electronic structure of the component elements of the
ternary alloy. According to Croce et al. [6] addition of Ag
-1500 provides cross-linking canters for the CdS matrix lowers the
tendency for sample reorganization and promotes a
ohm

modification of the overall structure. Such a structural

modification enhances the mechanical properties and
Z'

-1000

establishes additional pathways for charge carriers to conduct

at the surface of the samples [7].
-500

5. Conclusion
0 CdS:Ag nano-polycrystalline particles were prepared by
3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 simple chemical co-precipitation method successfully using
Z ohm ethylene glycol as a capping agent. The composition of the
samples is found to be CdAgS. XRD studies of the samples
Fig.3 represents the impedance spectra for 250o C revealed structural transformation from hexagonal to cubic of
doping Ag and the crystallite size estimated from the
In this paper, we performed EIS measurements of prepared broadening analysis generally corresponded to the primary
sample under varying temperature. Therefore, we will denote particle size (grain size) as determined. Electrical studies
the measured impedance spectrum as Z(ω) . It presents the indicated the insulating nature of the samples consistent with
electromechanical property of the sample including the effects large band gap present in the samples and the doping of Ag on
of its internal structural changes subject to the applied field. CdS enhances the electrical conductivities.
Fig.3 shows the Cole- Cole plots (Nyquist plots) of
the pellet sample with Ag content. Shielded test leads were References
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 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.55 (2015)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

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