EXAFS study of the local environment of zinc in manganese-doped zinc sulfide nanoparticles.

A preliminary extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) investigation of the Zn K-edge in Mn²⁺-doped ZnS nanoparticles (sphalerite structure) was performed to understand the influence of the doping on the average Zn local environment. Zinc sulfide nanoparticles were synthesized by the chemical co-precipitation method and then doped with Mn at three concentrations 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9 mol. EXAFS data were collected from the synthesized samples at the Zn K-edge to extract information related to the coordination number, bond distance and Debye-Waller factor. EXAFS results of undoped and doped ZnS nanoparticles revealed that doping with Mn did not influence the first neighbor Zn-S bond length and only slightly affected the Zn-Zn bond of the second shell. A decrease in the Debye-Waller factor with an increase in the Mn doping concentration was observed. The results suggest that the Mn cations might substitute Zn in the ZnS lattice during the doping process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]