Scalable production of microbially mediated zinc sulfide nanoparticles and application to functional thin films

Ji Won Moon, Ilia N. Ivanov, Pooran C. Joshi, Beth L. Armstrong, Wei Wang, Hyunsung Jung, Adam J. Rondinone, Gerald E. Jellison, Harry M. Meyer, Gyoung Gug Jang, Roberta A. Meisner, Chad E. Duty, Tommy J. Phelps

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

52 Scopus citations

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 ∼5 nm crystallites at yields of ∼5 g l-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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4474-4483
Number of pages10
JournalActa Biomaterialia
Volume10
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2014

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the US Department of Energy (DOE), Advanced Manufacturing Office, Low Temperature Material Synthesis Program (CPS 24762) and of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program Launch Initiative. Part of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is sponsored by the ORNL Scientific User Facilities Division and DOE Office of Basic Research Sciences. ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for DOE under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. The authors also wish to thank Xiangping Ying for ICP-MS analysis, Sue Carroll for cell counting and various reviewers for constructive comments.

Keywords

  • Metal-reducing bacteria X513
  • Microbial synthesis
  • Thin films
  • ZnS nanoparticles

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