Peculiarities of formation and luminescence of ZnS nanoparticles modified with amino acids

Abstract Surface modification of ZnS nanoparticles with various amino acids leads to dramatic changes in luminescence: 30–40-fold increase in the case of glycine and methionine and almost total disappearance of luminescence in the case of cysteine. The study of formation of “nacked” and surface-modified ZnS revealed two main stages: quite rapid process of generation of ZnS nanoparticles and relatively slow process of the formation of the luminescent centers. The last are the surface defected zinc ions, capped with amino acid in the case of modified species.