Structural, photocatalytic and anticancer studies of hexadecylamine capped ZnS nanoparticles

We report the synthesis, photocatalytic and cytotoxic studies of hexadecylamine capped zinc sulphide (ZnS) nanoparticles. XRD patterns confirmed hexagonal wurtzite phase of ZnS nanoparticles and HRTEM micrograph revealed spherically shaped particles with sizes in the range 2.81-4.48 nm. Energy band gaps of 4.67, 4.68 and 4.71 eV for ZnS1, ZnS2 and ZnS3 obtained at 30 min, 1 h and 2 h. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue by the as-synthesized ZnS nanoparticles showed degradation efficiency of 55.16% for ZnS1, 53.58% for ZnS2 and 71.17% ZnS3 after 3 h. Anticancer studies of the ZnS nanoparticles showed they exhibited very potent cytotoxicity activity against breast adenocarcinoma and human cervical carcinoma cancer cell lines.