Morphology and Phase Evolution of Hierarchical Architectures of Cadmium Sulfide

A series of hierarchical architectures of cadmium sulfide (CdS) were prepared by the hydrothermal route. The final products were characterized and investigated by X-ray diffraction, field emission transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and photoluminescence spectrometry. It is found that the complex morphology of the as-synthesized CdS is greatly affected by the used coordination agents such as thiourea and 5-sulfosalicylic acid. Concretely speaking, the hierarchical architectures of CdS can be tuned via facilely adjusting the molar ratio of thiourea to other reactants and/or additives such as cadmium acetate, cadmium nitrate, and 5-sulfosalicylic acid (H 3 SSA). In some specific conditions, the molar ratio of thiourea to cadmium nitrate or H 3 SSA can also be used to control the phase composition of the final products. On the basis of the results of various comparative experiments, a possible growth mechanism has been proposed. Furthermore, the hierarchical architectures of CdS exhibit strong yellowish green emission peaking at 565 nm after excitation at 420 nm. This simple route can also be applied to synthesize other inorganic materials.