Optical and structural investigation of ZnO@ZnS core–shell nanostructures

•Obtation of ZnO@ZnS decorated systens using different solvents by MAS methodology.•Growth solvent dependence of hexagonal and cubic phases for ZnS.•Potential application of ZnO@ZnS decorated nanostructures as replacement material for solar cells.•Control over band alignment between ZnO and ZnS.

In the present work, are reported the experimental study of ZnO@ZnS core–shell synthesised by a microwave-assisted solvothermal (MAS) method. Some synthesis parameters such as, time, precursor concentration and temperature were fixed. In order to investigate the effect of growing shell on the structural and optical properties, the samples were grown with two different solvent (water or ethylene glycol). The characterizations were performed by X-ray diffraction, absorption spectroscopy in the UV–vis range, scanning electron microscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The results show that both ZnO and ZnS diffractions are present for all samples, however the crystallinity degree of ZnS shell are too low. The better decorations of ZnS (shell) on the ZnO (core) are obtained for ethylene glycol (EG) solvent, which is verified through FE-SEM images of ZnO@ZnS (EG). On the other hand, non morphological solvent dependence was observed for ZnO multi-wires. Also the luminescent emission for decorated system in water were more intense and leads to form a type-II band alignment for ZnO@ZnS core–shell system.

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