Highly Active Zinc Sulfide Composite Microspheres: A Versatile Template for Synthesis of a Family of Hollow Nanostructures of Sulfides

Hollow nanostructures of metal sulfides have gained tremendous attention in catalysis, biomedicine, and energy storage and conversion owing to their intriguing structural features and fascinating physicochemical properties. Here, we reported a hard template-engaged cation exchange method to fabricate a family of binary or ternary metal sulfide (CuS, Ag₂S, Bi₂S₃, Cu_xBi_1–xS, Zn_xCo_1–xS, Zn_xCd_1–xS, Zn_xNi_1–xS, and Zn_xMn_1–xS) hollow microspheres via adjusting the reaction kinetic parameters including solvent and temperature in the presence of unique ZnS composite microspheres. Particularly, the shell layer thickness of metal sulfide hollow microspheres could be modulated by manipulating the reaction temperature during the cation exchanging procedure. Meanwhile, the desired elementary composition of ternary metal sulfide hollow microspheres could be achieved by varying the mole ratio and species of the metal source. This synthetic strategy could be extended to rationally design and construct other metal sulfide hollow nanostructures and provide a deep insight into the nucleation and growth process of the metal sulfide hollow microspheres with well-controlled composition and microstructures.