Opto-mechanical studies of PVA-capped ZnSe and CdSe nanoparticles for optoelectronic applications

Polymer vinyl alcohol (PVA)-capped ZnSe and CdSe nanocomposite films were synthesized via a chemical route. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used for the structural characterization of the samples. XRD revealed the cubic and hexagonal structures of ZnSe/CdSe nanoparticles with an average size of 12-nanometre regimes. The photoluminescence spectra showed increased intensity with the reduction in particle size. The photon energy from absorption spectra confirmed the nano-regime of these nanocomposite films. It was found that microhardness (HV) is a function of load (L) for different ZnSe content in the ZnSe/PVA nanocomposite samples, and the hardness (HV) of nanocomposite samples is higher when compared to pure PVA sample, which showed that nanocrystalline is much harder than PVA. The Meyer index was found to be > 2 for these samples, which gives information about the softened state of the material and is confirmed by the Meyer relation. Elastic modulus increased with hardness in the range of 3.8–6.6 kg mm⁻². The tuning of optical and structural parameters makes these materials promising for display devices in the optoelectronics industry.