Nanoporous arrays of metal sulfides templated by mesoporous silica

By using mesoporous silica SBA-15 as a hard template, ordered crystalline nanoporous arrays of binary metal sulfides such as CdS, ZnS, In ₂S₃, have been synthesized for the first time employing two simple impregnation reaction procedures from two separate precursors (metal and sulfur precursors). In the one-step synthetic process, the metal and sulfide precursors were introduced into the channels of SBA-15 simultaneously followed by an annealing heat treatment. The resulted nanoporous metal sulfides are composed of ordered crystalline nanowire arrays connected with short rods, which have great potential in applications for the development of electronic, photonic and catalytic systems. While in the two-step process, the two precursors were incorporated into SBA-15 sequentially. As a result, either loosely packed nanoporous arrays or winding nanoropes have been obtained depending on the metal and sulfide species utilized. The optical properties have been characterized by UV-vis diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence (PL) analyses.