Synthesis of nanocrystalline ZnSe by mechanical alloying

Nanocrystalline α -ZnSe was synthesized by mechanical alloying after milling the blended elemental powder for just 30 min. XRD studies indicated that a homogeneous phase had formed after 1 h; no change was observed afterwards up to 10 h. The minimum crystallite size achieved was 9 nm. The lattice parameter of the powder milled for 10 h was a = 0.56578 nm. On annealing this powder for 1 h at 1000 °C, the lattice parameter increased to a = 0.56691 nm, suggesting that the lattice had contracted in the as-milled condition due to its nanocrystalline state, and that it reached the equilibrium value on annealing. SEM and EDS techniques confirmed the results of XRD studies. Our results indicate that a homogeneous α -ZnSe phase was obtained on milling and that the phase exhibited increased homogeneity range. These results are new and were not reported in any earlier investigations. Graphical abstract