Alcohothermal synthesis of flower-like ZnS nano-microstructures with high visible light photocatalytic activity

•Flower-like ZnS was synthesized by a template-free alcohothermal method.•The morphologies of ZnS depend on the reaction time.•Visible light-induced photodegradation efficiency of MG is 98.2% after 2 h.•Flower-like ZnS presents excellent photocatalytic activity and reusability.

Flower-like ZnS nano-microstructures have been successfully synthesized via the facile template-free alcohothermal method in an ethanol solution without any surface-active agents. The morphology and optical properties of the as-obtained samples have been characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectra (PL). The photocatalytic experiments show that the flower-like ZnS presents excellent photocatalytic activity on the degradation of malachite green (98.2%) under visible light. The photocatalytic reusability was investigated up to six successive cycles and the flower-like ZnS still retains its activity about 80.1% of photodegradation ratio. Consequently, the flower-like ZnS can be employed as the efficient photocatalyst to treat the organic pollutants.

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