Copper−Indium Sulfide Hollow Nanospheres Synthesized by a Facile Solution-Chemical Method

Abstract

Chalcopyrite CuInS2 is an important photovoltaic material. CuInS2 hollow nanospheres with diameters of 80−100 nm have been synthesized by a surfactant-assisted solution-chemical route. Structural characterization indicated that shells of the hollow spheres are composed of CuInS2 nanoparticles of about 10 nm in size. A vesicle-template mechanism was proposed to explain the formation process of the hollow structure, during which amorphous hollow structures are first formed on the surfactant template and then crystallize in the refluxing process.

Facile solution-controlled growth of CuInS2 thin films on FTO and TiO2/FTO glass substrates for photovoltaic application

“…The mechanism for the growth of CuInS 2 thin films is proposed to include process of nucleation, growth, and aggregation [17][18][19][20][21]. At the early reaction stage, some Cu 2+ ions are reduced to Cu + ions by ethanol and Cu + ions react with In 3+ and S 2− ions, which are released by C 2 H 5 NS in the solution, to form CuInS 2 nuclei under the solvothermal condition on the substrate surface.…”

Synthesis and formation mechanism of CuInS2 nanocrystals with a tunable phase

“…[7][8][9] The synthesis of chalcopyrite CIS nanoparticles with narrow size distribution and uniform morphology has been extensively pursued. Various morphologies such as nanowires, nanorods, nanobottles, hollow nanospheres and hierarchical microarchitectures [10][11][12][13][14] have been prepared by a sol process, solvo/hydrothermal procedure, or single-source pyrolysis. [15][16][17][18][19] Even though there are two main reasons that arouse interest in the study of a new phase of CIS: one is that the two metastable wurtzite and zinc blende CIS phases are considered as counterparts of breaking away from their natural preferences.…”

Synthesis and characterization of CuInS2 nanostructure by ultrasonic-assisted method and different precursors

“…In comparison with other chemical methods which have been used for preparation of CuInS 2 nanocrystals [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] current method is very fast and also using ultrasound radiation will lead to high yields and smaller particles [40].…”

“…The chalcopyrite semiconductor CuInS 2 (CIS) is particularly promising, for photovoltaic applications because it has a layer absorption coefficient of about 10 À5 cm À1 and a direct band gap energy of approximately 1.54 eV which is in the optimum range for solar-energy conversion [4][5][6][7][8]. Hence, various studies have focused on providing a simple and suitable method for synthesis of CuInS 2 nanostructures and so various methods have been applied to synthesize CuInS 2 thin film and powders including molecular single-source precursors [9], solvothermal reactions [10][11][12][13][14][15][16], microemulsion method [17], microwave irradiation [18], surfactant-assisted chemical reactions [19,20], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [21], sputtering [22], spray pyrolysis [23], molecular beam deposition [24], and electrodeposition [25]. These methods produced nanocrystals with different morphologies such as nanoparticles [26][27][28], hollow nanospheres [19], nanowires [12], nanorods [10,11], pyramidal nanocrystales [13], and porous microspheres [14,15].…”