2D cadmium sulphoselenide nano-heterostructure: unique synthesis and superior field emission properties

A cost-effective Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) method was employed to synthesize a Cadmium Sulphoselenide (CdSSe) film on the cadmium substrate. Subsequently, Gold (Au) nanoparticles were introduced on the film using a sputtering unit. Structural, morphological, elemental composition and chemical analysis of the CdSSe nanosheets (NS) and Au/CdSSe nano-heterostructure (NHS) were conducted through X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) respectively. Additionally, a thorough comparative investigation of the field emission characteristics of CdSSe NS and Au/CdSSe NHS was undertaken. The turn-on field defined as a current density of 10 µA/cm 2 was observed to be 5.8 V/µm for CdSSe NS and 4.7 V/µm for Au/CdSSe NHS. At an applied field of 5.8 V/µm, CdSSe NS exhibited a maximum emission current density of 10.24 µA/cm 2 while, Au/CdSSe NHS achieved a substantially higher value of 56.2 µA/cm 2 . This marked improvement in current density for Au/CdSSe NHS compared to the bare CdSSe NS suggests enhanced field emission characteristics. Notably, the turn-on field for Au/CdSSe NHS is observed to be superior than the value reported in the literature for other semiconducting NHS. Furthermore, the emission current stability was found to be impressive in case of Au/CdSSe NHS. The outstanding field emission performance of the Au/CdSSe NHS with its unique way of synthesis suggest its potential applicability in micro/nanoelectronic devices.