Growth Kinetics of CdS Nanocrystallites in Glass through Quantum‐Size Effects

Glasses containing very small particles of CdS are prepared and their properties studied. Changes in the optical absorption spectra of CdS glass result from quantum confinement effects. With very small particle size, large confinement energies of up to 4 eV are obtained, which have not been before. The blue‐shifts in the optical absorption spectra show that the growth rate of the particles at short times are diffusion controlled, and the activation energy for growth is calculated. The band gaps of the CdS nanocrystallites in glass are determined from photoluminescence measurements, which show a high‐energy peak, corresponding to the band gap, that had not been previously observed.