Facile and scalable preparation of bovine serum albumin stabilized cobalt sulfide nanostructures with various morphologies

We present a protein-assisted method for the facile and scalable synthesis of Cobalt sulfide (CoS) nanostructures with various morphologies using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a stabilizing agent. The CoS samples prepared from 10:1 volume ratio of Cobalt (Co):Sulfur (S) and 1:10 volume ratio of Co:S at 0.01% w/v amount of BSA shows 3D flowers with an average diameter of 510 nm and hollow spheres about 900 nm in average diameter, respectively. The CoS samples prepared from 0.01, 0.1 and 0.5% w/v amounts of BSA at 1:1 volume ratio of Co:S shows nanosheet based porous clusters, nanosheet based partially porous clusters and aggregated spheres, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy study confirms that the obtained BSA stabilized CoS nanostructures are stabilized by hydroxyl and amine groups present in the BSA molecules.

Automated summary

A protein-assisted method using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a stabilizing agent is presented for the synthesis of Cobalt sulfide (CoS) nanostructures with various morphologies. By adjusting the volume ratio of Cobalt (Co) to Sulfur (S) and the amount of BSA, different shapes of CoS nanostructures can be obtained.