Simple and mild biomolecule-assisted green route to nanosheet-built zinc indium sulphide microspheres

A simple and mild green route has been developed to synthesise zinc indium sulphide nanopowders with L-cysteine as the sulphur source and complexing agent under hydrothermal conditions at 160 °C for 12 h. The crystal structure, morphologies and chemical composition of the obtained nanopowders are confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. Results reveal that the synthesised nanopowder is comprised of microspheres with nanosheets and the diameter of the microspheres and the thickness of the nanosheets are 100 nm-2 μm and 10-50 nm, respectively. Moreover, a possible formation mechanism for the zinc indium sulphide product is briefly discussed. The present route would provide an alternative strategy to prepare other II-III-VI ternary metal sulphide nanocrystals.