Gas phase growth of wurtzite ZnS nanobelts on a large scale

We showed large-scale synthesis of ZnS nanobelts by simply thermal evaporation of ZnS powder in the presence of Au catalysts at 1020°C. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses demonstrated that the as-obtained ZnS nanobelts possess hexagonal wurtzite structures. The nanobelts have lengths ranging from tens to hundreds of micrometers, thicknesses of tens of nanometers, and widths ranging from hundreds of nanometers to the order of micrometers. The growth process was proposed on the basis of known vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism. Room temperature photoluminescence measurements showed that the as-synthesized ZnS nanostructures had a strong green emission bands at a wavelength of 427 nm, which can be attributed to deep-level emissions induced by defects or impurities.