Preparation of Antimony Sulfide Nanostructures From Single-Source Antimony Thiosemicarbazone Precursors

Abstract

Antimony sulfide nanostructures have been prepared by the decomposition of antimony(III) chloride thiosemicarbazone precursors, SbCl₃(L), [L = cinnamaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (cinnamtscz) (1) and thiophene-2-carboxaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (thioptscz) (2)] either in a furnace or in solvents (ethylene glycol or diphenyl ether). The as-prepared nanocrystallites were characterized by powder XRD, TEM, and EDAX techniques, and absorption spectroscopy. XRD shows formation of orthorhombic Sb₂S₃ in all the cases. TEM images reveal spherical shaped Sb₂S₃ nanoparticles obtained by pyrolysis method, whereas nearly spherical and rod like morphologies of Sb₂S₃ were observed for the nanoparticles obtained by solvothermal decomposition in diphenyl ether and ethylene glycol, respectively.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthesis and Reactivity in Inorganic, Metal-Organic, and Nano-Metal Chemistry to view the supplemental file.

Keywords:

• antimony sulfide
• nanostructures
• semiconductors
• X-ray diffraction

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to UGC for financial assistance and SAIF, IIT-Bombay, for the EDAX data, TEM images, and SAED patterns. Also thanks are extended to TIFR, Mumbai, for the XRD data.