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Investigations of solvents and various sulfur sources influence on the shape-controlled synthesis of CuInS2 nanocrystals

  • Special Issue: Nanostructured Materials 2010
  • Published:
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Abstract

CuInS2 (CIS) nanocrystals were successfully synthesized through a hot-injection technique employing a reaction of copper (I) acetate and indium (III) acetate with tert-dodecanethiol as a source of sulfur, and trioctylphosphine oxide and 1-dodecanethiol were used as ligands. The reaction medium was a mixture of two solvents: oleylamine and 1-octadecene. Varying the ratio between both solvents leads to the formation of wurtzite CuInS2 particles with shapes ranging from triangular to rod-shaped with length up to 50 nm. Oleylamine turned out to influence the reaction condition in two opposite ways: by leading to monomer depletion before the injection of the sulfur precursor, and at the same time increasing the activity of the monomers remaining in solution. By changing the sulfur source from tert-dodecanethiol to sulfur dissolved in oleylamine, triangular particles with zinc blend structure and a smaller size (~5 nm) were synthesized. The final materials were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and absorption spectroscopy (UV–Vis).

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Acknowledgment

We gratefully acknowledge funding by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, project number 03SF0338C) and the funding of the EWE Research Group “Thin Film Photovoltaics” by the EWE AG, Oldenburg.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy and Semiconductor Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oldenburg, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Str. 9-11, 26129, Oldenburg, Germany

    Marta Kruszynska, Holger Borchert, Jürgen Parisi & Joanna Kolny-Olesiak

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  1. Marta Kruszynska
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  2. Holger Borchert
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  3. Jürgen Parisi
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  4. Joanna Kolny-Olesiak
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Correspondence to Joanna Kolny-Olesiak.

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Kruszynska, M., Borchert, H., Parisi, J. et al. Investigations of solvents and various sulfur sources influence on the shape-controlled synthesis of CuInS2 nanocrystals. J Nanopart Res 13, 5815–5824 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0381-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0381-4

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