Sulfidation of rock-salt-type transition metal oxide nanoparticles as an example of a solid state reaction in colloidal nanoparticles

The sulfidation of colloidal rock-salt-type MO (M = Fe, Mn and Co) nanocrystals was performed in organic solvents using dissolved elemental sulfur at moderate temperatures. The vacancy defects in these rock-salt-type structures clearly promote complete oxide-sulfide conversion. The conversion products were hollow metal sulfide (pyrrhotite (Fe1-xS), Co1-xS and alpha-MnS) nanoparticles. These conversions by sulfidation proceed rapidly, making difficult the isolation of intermediates. The sulfidation intermediates, when the supply of sulfur was insufficient, had interesting structures, in which the metal oxide cores were surrounded by metal sulfide shells or had surfaces that were decorated with metal sulfide islands. Based on the above results, a mechanism of surface nucleation, shell formation, and void formation by diffusion processes is proposed.