Core-satellite ZnS-Ag nanoassemblies: Synthesis, structure, and optical properties

Parham Rohani; Munish K Sharma; Mark T Swihart

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2015.10.059

Core-satellite ZnS-Ag nanoassemblies: Synthesis, structure, and optical properties

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2016 Feb 1:463:207-13. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2015.10.059. Epub 2015 Oct 24.

Authors

Parham Rohani¹, Munish K Sharma¹, Mark T Swihart²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, NY 14260-4200, United States.
² Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, NY 14260-4200, United States. Electronic address: swihart@buffalo.edu.

PMID: 26524256
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2015.10.059

Abstract

We synthesized hollow core-satellite nanoassemblies comprised of hollow zinc sulfide (ZnS) shells decorated with silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). This was achieved by solution-phase attachment of Ag NPs to hollow ZnS nanospheres (NSs) prepared by spray pyrolysis. This produces an aqueous dispersion of ZnS-Ag hybrid structures, 50-500nm in overall diameter. We characterized the nanostructures by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) to elucidate the ZnS (core)-Ag (satellite) morphology and optimize conditions for producing such structures. Optical spectroscopy showed that photoluminescence of ZnS was quenched by Ag while absorbance was enhanced. This work provides a simple and general means of producing hollow core-satellite structures that could be of broad applicability.

Keywords: Core–satellite; Nanosphere; Silver; Spray pyrolysis; Zinc sulfide.