Methanol-mediated Solvothermal Synthesis of Hexagonal CdS Hollow Nanospheres

CdS hollow nanospheres were synthesized via solvothermal route from cadmium nitrate and thiourea with methanol as medium. Morphology and structures of the as-obtained products were characterized by TEM, EDS and XRD. TEM and EDS analysis show that the products are mainly onion-like CdS hollow nanospheres, with external diameter of 5￡17nm and hollow inner size of 3￡14nm. XRD tests indicate that these hollow nanospheres exhibit hexagonal wurtzite structure. The function of alcohol solvent on the growth of CdS nanostructure is also studied preliminary. As absolute ethanol or 1-pentanol is employed as a substitute for solvent, the products are congeries of CdS nanoparticles and microspheres assembled by CdS nanoparticles, respectively. The results demonstrate that methanol plays a significant role in the formation of hollow structure. The formation of hollow nanospheres may be caused by curling of CdS nanoflakes under the high vapor pressure of methanol.a¤