Structural and morphological transformations of textural porous zinc sulfide microspheres

Here we report a study on the structural and morphological transformations of textural porous ZnS microspheres that were synthesized by employing a facile hydrothermal reaction. The as-obtained ZnS phase was further transformed to a ZnO phase by heat treatment at 500 °C. The phase transformation goes through the formation of intermediate ZnS/ZnO phase. The structural and morphological transformations were studied by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, N2-physisorption techniques and scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy. In addition, we also evaluated the photocatalytic activity of ZnS, ZnO and ZnS/ZnO microspheres by degradation of methylene green dye.

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► We studied the structural and morphological transformations of hydrothermally synthesized textural porous ZnS microspheres.
► Heat treatment at 500 °C transformed the ZnS to ZnO phase.
► We tested the photocatalytic properties of the various ZnS, ZnO and ZnS/ZnO microspheres by degradation of methylene green dye.