Formation of Solid and Hollow Sphere ZnS Nanoparticles by Hydrothermal Process and Their Structural, Optical and Photocatalytic Activity

Solid and hollow sphere morphology ZnS nanoparticles were successfully prepared via hydrothermal process using different sulfur sources, such as thiourea and sodium thiosulfate. The synthesized ZnS samples were characterized by the powder-XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM-SAED, UV–Visible, PL and BET. Diffraction pattern of powder X-ray diffraction revealed the cubic structure of ZnS nanoparticles. Spherical-like morphology and compositional element of the ZnS particles are studied by the SEM-EDX analysis. The particle size of the obtained products was calculated to be 26–58 nm (solid) and 46–92 nm (hollow) from the TEM analysis. The absorption edge of the ZnS particles is found to be higher than the bulk ZnS (3.65 eV). PL emission spectra showed one stoke-shift in the visible region due to sulfur vacancy defects. BET result showed that the shell of ZnS hollow structure was composed of many fine crystallites and had a porous structure demonstrated by N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm. From photocatalytic activity, the degradation efficiency was found to be 97.17%, due to the enhancement of the energy transfer of the hollow sphere ZnS particles.