Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous zinc sulfide by surfactant-assisted templating process

Mesoporous zinc sulfide has been synthesized by a templating route in which octadcylamine (ODA) and pluronic F-127 (F-127) were respectively chosen as the template-directing reagents. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nitrogen adsorption–desorption were used to analyze the morphological characteristics of the obtained products. Results from the nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms show that mesoporous materials prepared with ODA and F-127 possess a narrow pore distribution of 3.84 and 4.90 nm, and a large surface area of 223 and 233 m2/g, respectively. According to the results from X-ray diffraction (XRD), the obtained zinc sulfide samples could be indexed as the typical cubic structure. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) were also used to investigate the role of organic template. In contrast to the former methods used to synthesize mesoporous ZnS, the method employed in this experiment ruled out the difficulties associated with complex apparatus, high expense and rigid condition. Besides, mesoporous structures derived from this method exhibit the larger surface area and pore diameter than any other mesoporous ZnS prepared by the traditional routes.