Facile synthesis and photocatalytic activity of hollow micro-spherical zinc sulfide caps

Novel zinc sulfide (ZnS) hollow micro-spherical caps were produced via a facile thermal evaporation of ZnS and Zn powders without any types of templates. The samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectra and fluorescence spectra. The results demonstrate that the synthesized ZnS nanoparticles are hollow micro-spherical caps with the diameters ranging from 4 to 8 μm and a relatively homogeneous shell thickness of about 40 nm. Furthermore, the formation mechanism of ZnS hollow micro-spherical caps was also suggested. Moreover, the photocatalysis test shows that the ZnS hollow micro-spherical caps exhibit a high photocatalytic activity, thereby implying that the surface of ZnS can promote the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and enhance the photocatalytic activity.