A γ-ray irradiation route to fabricate monodisperse zinc sulfide hollow spheres using silica as templates

The monodisperse submicrometer zinc sulfide (ZnS) hollow spheres were synthesized by γ-ray irradiation at room temperature, using monodisperse silica spheres as the templates. In order to obtain ZnS hollow spheres, the ZnS-coated SiO2 core-shell particles were prepared through γ-ray irradiation deposition in an aqueous containing zinc acetate and sulfide, released through the hydrolysis of thioacetamide, followed by dissolving the SiO2 cores using hydrofluoric acid. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and UV–vis spectroscopy were used to characterize these nanoparticles, indicating the formation of core-shell colloidal spheres, as well as hollow spheres.