Hydrothermal synthesis of novel sandwich-like structured ZnS/octylamine hybrid nanosheets

Novel sandwich-like structured zinc sulfide (ZnS)/octylamine (OA) hybrid nanosheets with exclusively sheet-like morphology were synthesized for the first time via a mild hydrothermal route using OA as structure-directing agent. The as-synthesized products were characterized by the X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scan electron microscopy, energy dispersive analyses of X-rays, thermogravimetric analysis, and ultraviolet and visible absorption spectroscopy. The results showed that OA molecules were intercalated between wurtzite ZnS layers. As revealed from optical absorption measurements, the hybrid nanosheets exhibits strong quantum confinement effect with a great blue shift in the band gap.