{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T22:26:14Z","timestamp":1790202374246,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,1]],"date-time":"2020-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1577836800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003336","name":"Bulgarian National Science Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["DN-17\/20"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DN-17\/20"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003336","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Molecular precursors are suitable starting compounds for preparation of semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs), which allow for control of atomic ratio, composition, monodispersity, and particle size of nanoscaled metal sulfides\/oxides. In the present study, we carried out a one-pot synthesis of ZnS NPs in aqueous triethanolamine medium at room temperature, from molecular precursor zinc xanthate as a source of both Zn2+ and S2\u2212 ions. Furthermore, we compared the products obtained from zinc ethylxanthate (Zn(C2H5OCS2)2) and zinc amylxanthate (Zn(C5H11OCS2)2). The as-prepared ZnS NPs were found to crystallize in cubic phase, which usually forms at low temperatures, with the dimension dependent on the xanthate precursor used. The long carbon-chain xanthate Zn(C5H11OCS2)2 gave spherically shaped NPs with an average diameter of 19 nm, while the NPs that originated from zinc ethylxanthate had a mean size of ~26 nm. Both nanomaterials had surface sulfur vacancies that extended their absorption spectra toward the visible region and reduced the band gap. This allowed both materials to demonstrate photocatalytic performance under visible-light irradiation. Photodegradation of methylene blue over newly prepared ZnS NPs was tested under visible light, demonstrating efficiency of 50%\u201360% after 180 min.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma13010171","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,3]],"date-time":"2020-01-03T04:43:03Z","timestamp":1578026583000},"page":"171","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":37,"title":["Room-Temperature Synthesis of ZnS Nanoparticles Using Zinc Xanthates as Molecular Precursors"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5541-1884","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Neli","family":"Mintcheva","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, University of Mining and Geology, Sofia 1700, Bulgaria"},{"name":"Research Institute of Science and Technology, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 259-1292, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gospodinka","family":"Gicheva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, University of Mining and Geology, Sofia 1700, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0182-0249","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marinela","family":"Panayotova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, University of Mining and Geology, Sofia 1700, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1365-9221","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sergei A.","family":"Kulinich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Science and Technology, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 259-1292, Japan"},{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 259-1292, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"186","DOI":"10.1016\/j.matchemphys.2012.11.042","article-title":"Investigation on one-pot hydrothermal synthesis, structural and optical properties of ZnS quantum dots","volume":"138","author":"Jothi","year":"2013","journal-title":"Mater. 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