Room-temperature synthesis of wurtzite ZnS at the oil-water interface and its photocatalytic performance

Abstract

Room-temperature synthesis of ZnS was controlled at the oil-water liquid-liquid interface. Combining with polymer films which were modified by hydroxyl-terminated self-assembled monolayers(SAMs) as flexible substrates,nanocrystalline ZnS films were fabricated on the substrates. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that the ZnS films have a hexagonal wurtzite structure,which is the high-temperature polymorph of sphalerite. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy observations show that the ZnS films consist of nanoparticles with the diameter of 30-50 nm. Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange by these products under UV-light irradiation was observed,which confirmed the photocatalytic degradation ability of the nanocrystalline ZnS films to organics. In view of the results,a facile one-step method,combining the oil-water interface with the SAMs-modified substrate,was proposed for fabricating the wurtzite ZnS functional films without any additive at room temperature. The relationship between photocatalytic performance and the morphology of the products was also discussed.

Keywords

• zinc sulfide
• nanocrystals
• thin films
• wurtzite structure
• synthesis
• photocatalysis