Low temperature synthesis and optical property of ZnS nanotubes

Abstract

Zinc sulphide (ZnS) nanotubes were synthesised via simple surfactant emulsion template under hydrothermal conditions. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscope were used to characterise the nanotubes. The results indicate that the nanotubes are composed of nanoparticles. The diameters of the nanotubes vary from 300 to 700 nm and lengths range from 1 to 2 µm. In addition, it is found that the reaction time, reaction temperature and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide play key roles in the phase and morphology control of ZnS nanotubes. Furthermore, room temperature photoluminescence was recorded to investigate the optical property of the obtained product. The stable and strong green emission band centred at 513 nm was attributed to some self-activated centres, probably vacancy states or interstitial states related to the peculiar structure.