Solvothermal preparation of flower-like ZnS microspheres, their photoluminescence and hydrogen absorption characteristics

The complex 3D flower-like ZnS microspheres have been synthesized via a one-pot template-free solvothermal method in mixed solvents of ethylenediamine, ethanolamine and ethanol without any surface-active agent. The prepared nanostructures have been characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The FESEM, TEM and HRTEM results exhibit that the 3D ZnS architectures present flower-like microstructures self-assembled with aligned high-density nanosheets. The XRD results show that the flower-like ZnS microspheres are wurtzite structure and highly crystalline. The photoluminescence spectrum of the flower-like ZnS microspheres exhibits a strong broad defect related band at 400-600 nm which almost covered the whole visible region. The first ever study on hydrogen absorption characteristics of the ZnS microspheres performed at 373 K shows an absorption capacity of 0.84 wt%. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.