Facile synthesis of gamma-MnS hierarchical nanostructures with high photoluminescence

A facile solvothermal method in the ethylene glycol–H2O system has been proposed for controllable fabrication of well-crystallized γ-MnS hierarchical nanostructures. In this method, the addition of deionized water into the reaction solution shows a remarkable influence upon the morphology, especially on the preferential orientation growth. Typically, hollow γ-MnS nanospheres could be generated without use of deionized water. However, γ-MnS nanoflowers radially constructed by anisotropic nanorods would be readily obtained with the assistance of deionized water. Moreover, the dosage of deionized water can be used for controlling the crystallinity and particle size of γ-MnS nanoflowers. The role of deionized water played on the growth of γ-MnS nanoflowers has been discussed based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM). The obtained γ-MnS nanorod-constructed nanoflowers exhibit improved PL property compared to hollow nanospheres, evidenced by the enhanced NBE emission centered at 364 nm.