Morphology of silicate glasses with lead sulfide nanocrystals

The specific features in the structure of nanostructured glass-ceramic materials based on sodium zinc silicate glasses doped with lead sulfide are investigated using small-angle X-ray scattering and X-ray powder diffraction. It is established that a close-to-monodisperse size distribution of PbS nanocrystals is an important structural feature of the system under investigation. An analysis of the X-ray powder diffraction data demonstrates that the shape of the lead sulfide nanocrystals precipitated depends on the heat treatment conditions and can differ from a spherical shape.