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Fabricating antimony sulfide Sb2S3 microbars using solvothermal synthesis: effect of the solvents used on the optical, structural, and morphological properties

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Abstract

Antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3) is a promising candidate for cell absorbers due to its appropriate band gap, abundant constituents, non-toxicity, simple composition, and long-term stability. In this study, highly oriented Sb2S3 microbars were prepared utilizing an easy, low-cost solvothermal approach. The effects of the solvents used on the morphological and the crystal structure and optical properties of the Sb2S3 films were inspected using X-ray powder direction (XRD), UV/Vis spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The XRD analysis demonstrated that the Sb2S3 crystals had an orthorhombic phase. The Sb2S3 nanorods/bars mostly grew along the (010) direction. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) peaks had an atomic ratio of 2:3 for Sb:S. UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy showed that the optical energy gap of the Sb2S3 microbars was 1.5 with ethylene glycol as the solvent. Aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) micrographs demonstrated that the Sb2S3 was dendrite-like consisting of microbars with a standard a length of 8–15 µm and width of 250–400 nm.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under Grant No. DG1440-21-130. The authors thank DSR for technical and financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, College of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Judah, 42806, Saudi Arabia

    Rahma Almalki, E. M. Mkawi & Y. Al-Hadeethi

  2. Center of Nanotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Judah, 42806, Saudi Arabia

    E. M. Mkawi

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  1. Rahma Almalki
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  2. E. M. Mkawi
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  3. Y. Al-Hadeethi
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Correspondence to E. M. Mkawi.

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Almalki, R., Mkawi, E.M. & Al-Hadeethi, Y. Fabricating antimony sulfide Sb2S3 microbars using solvothermal synthesis: effect of the solvents used on the optical, structural, and morphological properties. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 9203–9211 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03450-3

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