Low temperature synthesis and blue photoluminescence of ZnS submicronparticles

•A top-down fabrication process using ultrasonication was employed to fabricate ZnS NPs.•The optical absorption edge exhibits a blue-shift with respect to that of bulk.•The PL emission can be attributed to exciton recombination.•It is a highly reproducible method for making a large volume of submicronparticles.

Submicronparticles of ZnS were synthesized at low temperature using a top-down fabrication process by ultrasonication. The obtained ZnS particles were characterized by scanning transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–visible spectrophotometry (UV), and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The results showed that the formed products are ZnS particles with size less than 200 nm and exhibit a strong luminescence in the blue region. The origin of the blue emission could be attributed to the quantum size effect of ZnS nanocrystals.

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