2004 Volume 45 Issue 8 Pages 2650-2652
We report synthesis of zinc sulfide nanocrystals (NCs) via formation of polymetallic thiolate cages. Nearly monodisperse ZnS NCs with size ranging from 2.2 to 7 nm were obtained by thermolysis of S-Zn-dodecanethiol precursors. The electron diffraction pattern of zinc sulfide NCs indicates that precipitates are wurtzite or mixture of wurtzite and zincblende. TEM observation and UV-vis spectra reveal that the growth rate of ZnS NCs considerably depends on the annealing temperature. UV-vis spectra of ZnS NCs with size smaller than 3 nm show sharp excitonic features and a large blue shift from the bulk material. The photoluminescence spectra exhibit large red shift from the absorption band edges, being attributed to electron-hole recombination by surface traps. The narrow size distribution of ZnS NCs leads to formation of ordered self-assemblies with various well-defined structures, where non-closed-packing structure is predominant.
