Oxalic acid assisted synthesis of ZnS nanoparticles and their optical properties

Abstract

ZnS nanoparticles and Oxalic acid (OA) assisted Zinc sulfide nanoparticles were synthesized by an easy and low-cost aqueous method using double distilled water as a solvent. A phase change has been observed while increasing the concentration of OA. Morphological studies by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Optical studies from Ultra Violet Spectroscopy (UV) and Photoluminescence (PL) and structural studies from X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been done to characterize the samples. UV absorption spectrum confirmed the blue shift and formation of nanostructures. From the PL spectrum, it is observed that both ZnS nanoparticles and OA assisted ZnS nanoparticles excited about 370 nm exhibit a blue-green emission between 420 and 470 nm. It may be recognized to the recombination of the imperfection of ZnS nanoparticles. The spherical morphology of ZnS nanoparticles and OA assisted ZnS nanoparticles has been shown in TEM micrographs and the size of the particles was measured as 8–20 nm and it is in good agreement with XRD studies.