Optoelectronic and photocatalytic properties of zinc sulfide nanowires synthesized by vapor-liquid-solid process

Zinc sulfide (ZnS) is a wide band-gap semiconductor with excellent optoelectronic properties suitable for photo-sensing devices and photocatalysts. Herein, the ZnS nanowires (ZnS NWs) have been successfully synthesized using thermal evaporation based on vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method. From the examinations of photosensing device under ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation, the photocurrent gain (P-g), responsivity (R-lambda), response time and recovery time are 0.572, 2.761 mW/cm(2), 3.2 s and 3.6 s, respectively. As to photocatalytic activity for methylene blue (MB), the apparent rate coefficient (K) of ZnS NWs is 9.78 x 10(-3) (min(-1)). Although ZnS NWs-based photodetector cannot be workable under ultraviolet A (UVA) irradiation, with referring to recent medical literatures, UVB radiation is the major environmental risk factor for developing human skin cancer, the most common cancer worldwide. Thus, the most important contribution in this work is that the ZnS NWs-based UVB radiation-oriented photodetector has been successfully demonstrated via a simple process.