Microwave‐assisted preparation of nanocrystalline ZnS in aqueous solutions of [EMIM][EtSO₄] as a low‐cost ionic liquid, and its characterization and photocatalytic properties

Abstract

A fast and template‐free method is proposed for the preparation of nanocrystalline ZnS in the presence of 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium ethylsulphate, [EMIM][EtSO4], a room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL), under microwave irradiation for 4 min. Powder X‐ray diffraction (XRD) studies show that the products are excellently crystallized in a cubic structure. Energy dispersive X‐ray (EDX) spectroscopy investigations reveal that the products are extremely pure. The results obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrate that nanocrystalline ZnS prepared in the presence of the RTIL are smaller than that of the sample prepared in water and the size of the nanoclusters decreases with increasing RTIL content of the media. Diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) of the as‐prepared ZnS show a blue shift relative to the bulk ZnS, which can be attributed to quantum confinement effect of nanocrystalline ZnS. A possible formation mechanism of the nanocrystalline ZnS in aqueous solutions of the RTIL is presented. The photocatalytic activity of the nanocrystalline ZnS towards photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) was investigated. The results demonstrate that the photocatalytic properties of the nanocrystalline ZnS prepared in the presence of the RTIL are better than that of the sample prepared in water.

Microwave-assisted preparation and characterization of Zn1−xCdxS nanoparticles in presence of an ionic liquid and their photocatalytic activities

“…The low interfacial tension of RTILs gives rise to high nucleation rates, thus enabling generation of small nanoparticles [43]. For these reasons, similar to our previous works [44][45][46], size of the Zn 0.2 Cd 0.8 S nanoparticles prepared in aqueous solution of the RTIL is lower than the prepared sample in water.…”

Preparation and characterization of ZnO nanocrystallines in the presence of an ionic liquid using microwave irradiation and photocatalytic activity

“…In continuation of our investigations into nanomaterial preparation [40][41][42][43][44] and RTILs [45][46][47][48][49], MARTIL method was applied for the preparation of ZnO nanocrystallines in the presence of an RTIL. For the above mentioned reasons, halide-free RTIL, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate ([EMIM][EtSO 4 ]) was used in this work [50].…”

The Microwave‐Assisted Ionic‐Liquid Method: A Promising Methodology in Nanomaterials

“…Nanocrystalline ZnS was prepared in the presence of the ionic liquid 1ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate, [Emim]A C H T U N G T R E N N U N G [EtSO 4 ], under microwave irradiation for only 4 minutes. [39] It was found that the size of nanocrystalline ZnS prepared in the presence of ionic liquids was smaller than that prepared in water, and that the sizes of ZnS particles decreased with the increasing content of ionic liquid. In addition, it has been noted that nanocrystalline ZnS displayed a blueshift relative to bulk ZnS and the photocatalytic properties of ZnS prepared in the ionic liquids were better than that prepared in water.…”