Elastic Properties of Ag2S and ZnS Nanocrystalline Cubic Sulfides

The structure of Ag 2 S/ZnS heteronanostructures is considered taking into account the anisotropy of elastic properties of Ag 2 S and ZnS sulfides. We showed that a large amount of cubic zinc sulfide stabilizes the cubic structure of β-Ag 2 S argentite at 300 K during the deposition of Ag 2 S/ZnS heteronanostructures from colloidal solutions. The elastic stiffness constants c 11 , c 12 , and c 44 of cubic argentite β-Ag 2 S and sphalerite ZnS are assessed at 300 K. Physically possible sites of silver atoms at the fixed crystallographic positions of cubic argentite are found. The Ag 2 S/ZnS heterostructures, in which the ( h k 0) plane of ZnS sphalerite and ( h k 0.5) one of argentite β-Ag 2 S form the interface, appear to be the most energetically favorable. The calculation of a universal criterion for the anisotropy of elastic properties of cubic argentite β-Ag 2 S and sphalerite ZnS showed that the silver and zinc sulfides are elastically anisotropic.