Precipitation of zinc sulfide particles from homogeneous solutions

Zinc sulfide particles were homogeneously precipitated by thermal decomposition of thioacetamide in acidic aqueous solutions in a one-step process. The influence of the operating conditions (initial concentration of zinc ion and TAA) on the nucleation time and number concentration of the generated particles was investigated. The experimental results show that the model of homogeneous nucleation previously developed and successfully tested for silver particle generation by a chemical reduction method can also be applied to the formation of zinc sulfide particles by homogeneous precipitation. Furthermore, in the particle formation method in which the nucleation time t* can be measured, the particle number concentration n* can be predicted by the simple relation n* = 1/(4 pi r*Dt*) (r* is the critical nucleus radius, and D the monomer diffusion coefficient). Thus the particle number concentration can be easily predicted even if the rate expression and the critical supersaturation concentration are unknown. (C) 2000 Academic Press.