title: Scalable production of microbially mediated zinc sulfide nanoparticles and application to functional thin films.
abstract: A series of semiconducting zinc sulfide (ZnS) nanoparticles were scalably, reproducibly, controllably and economically synthesized with anaerobic metal-reducing Thermoanaerobacter species. These bacteria reduced partially oxidized sulfur sources to sulfides that extracellularly and thermodynamically incorporated with zinc ions to produce sparingly soluble ZnS nanoparticles with ∼5nm crystallites at yields of ∼5gl(-1)month(-1). A predominant sphalerite formation was facilitated by rapid precipitation kinetics, a low cation/anion ratio and a higher zinc concentration compared to background to produce a naturally occurring hexagonal form at the low temperature, and/or water adsorption in aqueous conditions. The sphalerite ZnS nanoparticles exhibited narrow size distribution, high emission intensity and few native defects. Scale-up and emission tunability using copper doping were confirmed spectroscopically. Surface characterization was determined using Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, which confirmed amino acid as proteins and bacterial fermentation end products not only maintaining a nano-dimensional average crystallite size, but also increasing aggregation. The application of ZnS nanoparticle ink to a functional thin film was successfully tested for potential future applications.
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA. Electronic address: moonj@ornl.gov.
authors.forename: Ji-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Ilia N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Ivanov
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Pooran C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Beth L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.affiliation: Environmental Science Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Hyunsung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Adam J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rondinone
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Gerald E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Jellison
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Harry M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Gyoung Gug
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Roberta A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Meisner
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Chad E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Duty
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Tommy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Phelps
mesh_terms: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D012666:Semiconductors; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013440:Sulfides / Q000737:chemistry*; D046968:Thermoanaerobacter / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D017967:Zinc Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D013440:Sulfides; D017967:Zinc Compounds; C031238:zinc sulfide
keywords: Metal-reducing bacteria X513; Microbial synthesis; Thin films; ZnS nanoparticles