The first successful surface modification of finely dispersed NaCl particles was achieved during their synthesis in situ in the presence of CuCl2 and polyvinylpyrrolidone. Obtained layered structure is stable to washing with polar organic solvents and to environmental moisture.

Positive and negative effects of non-additivity of oxygen absorption rates at oxidation of Na2S in the presence (Ni-II + Co-II) containing catalysts were detected. It was determined that these effects were associated with peculiarities of the formation of nickel and cobalt sulphides particles. Positive effects of non-additivity were observed in the beginning of the reaction at the stage of forming metals sulphides embryos and referred to synergistic phenomena. Negative effects were detected at the growth stage of the sulphide phase particles. They are of nonsynergistic nature and associated with deposition of nickel sulphides on the surface of cobalt sulphide particles.

Various methods for obtaining highly dispersed sodium chloride in the form of powders and sols in organic solvents were studied and compared. These include the mechanical grinding in a ball mill, laser ablation, cryochemical method, solvent-substitution method, pyrolysis of an aerosol, and a number of chemical methods. The samples obtained were examined by X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering technique. The methods for obtaining highly dispersed NaCl were compared in three basic parameters: size of particles being obtained, their size distribution, and productivity. It was shown that, depending on a method used, sodium chloride particles with average sizes in the range from 15–30 nm to 10–20 μm can be obtained.

We register stimulated low-frequency Raman scattering (SLFRS) caused by laser-pulse interaction with nanoparticle acoustic vibrations in an ethanol suspension of sodium chloride nanoparticles and measure the SLFRS conversion efficiency and threshold. Frequency shifts of scattered light from the exciting light frequency are situated in the gigahertz range. We show that the frequency shifts increase with decrease in the nanoparticle sizes.

The study of nonlinear effects, caused by nanosecond laser pulses’ impact on the frozen ZnS nanoparticles’ suspension, is presented. Laser pulses excite strong nanoparticles’ coherent vibrations in the near-terahertz range which lead to different nonlinear effects: X-ray emission, stimulated low-frequency Raman scattering, and luminescence. X-ray emission was observed as bright spots on the special X-ray film. This provides evidence that an X-ray propagates with narrow beams. Stimulated low-frequency Raman scattering is a result of light scattering by acoustic vibrations of nanoparticles. Its frequency shift corresponds to the nanoparticles’ eigenvibration frequencies and depends on the sample material and particle’s dimension. It was measured with the help of a Fabri-Perot interferometer in the range of dispersion \(16.67\,\hbox {cm}^{-1}\). For ZnS, the first Stokes component frequency shift is equal to 465 GHz. Under excitation by 20 ns ruby laser pulses, the luminescence of the frozen ZnS nanoparticles’ suspension was observed in two bands located at 480 nm and 510 nm. Its duration was more than 3 s.

In this study, the modification of the catalyst in a model system imitating the oxidation of sulfurous-alkali drainage by molecular oxygen is investigated. Change in the catalyst structure can be another cause of the appearance of the negative effect of nonadditivity in the system.

The regularities of formation and luminescence of zinc sulfide nanoparticles modified with various amino acids were studied. The luminescence intensity of ZnS sols depends strongly on the nature of the modifier and from 30 to 40 times increases in the case of methionine and glycine or nearly completely disappears in the case of cysteine. Two main stages of formation of unmodified and surface-modified ZnS were revealed: a very rapid formation of ZnS nanoparticles and a relatively slow process of ordering of the internal particle structure with the formation of luminescence centers. In the case of modified objects, the role of such centers could be played by surface zinc ions bound to amino acids.

The formation of sols and precipitates of zinc sulfide as a result of the exchange reaction in an aqueous solution was studied. The precipitates consist of aggregates of primary particles about 3 nm in size. The primary ZnS particle size in aqueous sols increases with an increase in the concentration of zinc sulfate and sodium sulfide, with the accumulation of the final reaction product, and with temperature. This effect does not exceed an 1.5-fold increase. At the first step, the particles with a considerable fraction of the amorphous phase are formed and undergo intragrain crystallization. The photoluminescence properties of aqueous sols of zinc sulfide were studied. They are caused by defects in the ZnS lattice and by the presence of the lattice oxygen.

We present experimental results on the interaction of pulsed laser radiation with ZnS-quantum-dot aqueous suspensions. We detect luminescence in the blue spectral range as well as narrow beams of X-ray radiation. We describe the experimental conditions of X-ray generation and discuss the triboluminescence as a possible mechanism of the emission.

A new method for the preparation of copper and zinc sulfides nanoparticles in homogeneous aqueous solutions using cysteine as a surface modifier was proposed. The size of the particles obtained is 5–7 and 1.5–3 nm for copper and zinc sulfides, respectively, depending on the concentration of the reactants. Associates of the nanoparticles 10–30 nm in size are formed in the system with an increase in the total concentrations of the sulfides. Sols of the nanoparticles obtained in cysteine solutions are resistant to oxidation and coagulation within several weeks. The variation of the synthesis conditions makes it possible to obtain zinc sulfide particles with optical properties related to size effects.