Growth of nanocrystalline thin films of metal sulfides [CdS, ZnS, CuS and PbS] at the water–oil interface

Abstract

Simple one pot reactions between thiobiuret complexes [M(SON(CN i Pr 2 ) 2 ) 2 ], (M ¼ Cd, Zn, Pb or Cu) in toluene and aqueous Na 2 S lead to well-defined assemblies of nanocrystals. High quality thin films of CdS, ZnS, CuS and PbS nanoparticulates adhered to the interface are produced and are transferable to glass and other substrates. The effect of reaction parameters on the nature and properties of the deposits are examined. The films are characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transport property measurements, X-ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopy. The ability to obtain thin films of several nanocrystalline semiconductors from a single precursor set significantly expands the scope of a reaction scheme that is still in its infancy.

The in situ synthesis of PbS nanocrystals from lead(II) n -octylxanthate within a 1,3-diisopropenylbenzene–bisphenol A dimethacrylate sulfur copolymer

“…Electronic supplementary material, figure S12 shows S2p scans from sulfur in the native polymer (S2p 3/2 , 167.6 eV) and scans from the different temperatures which show the emergence of another feature from the formation of PbS (160.2 eV). A fitted example of an S2p region, electronic supplementary material, figure S13, after heating at 150°C, contains fitted regions for PbS (160.8 eV), elemental sulfur (S 8 , 163.5 eV) and SO x (167.6 eV) (quoted values are position of S2p 3/2 ) [ 71 , 72 , 77 ]. The regions attributed to PbS are not observed below 100°C.…”

“…The Pb 4f XPS spectrum, figure 2c, was typical of the composite films heated at 150°C, regardless of the ratio of [Pb(S 2 COOct) 2 ] to polymer. The envelope exhibited two environments, with the main region at 137.3 eV (Pb4f 7/2 ) assigned as PbS (galena) [71][72][73][74][75] and the second region (138.6 eV) as a lead sulfate, PbSO x [76]. With increasing temperature, the binding energy of the Pb4f 7/2 region decreases: 138.0 eV (50°C), 137.7 eV (100°C) and 137.3 eV (150°C).…”

The deposition of thin films of cadmium zinc sulfide Cd1−x Zn x S at 250 °C from spin-coated xanthato complexes: a potential route to window layers for photovoltaic cells

“…Numerous techniques have been used to grow CdS and Cd 1-x Zn x S thin films including dip coating [16], electrodeposition [17], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [18], aerosol-assisted CVD (AA-CVD) [19][20][21], chemical bath deposition (CBD) [2,8,22,23], spray pyrolysis [24,25], thermal evaporation [26], successive ionic layer and reaction (SILAR) [27], thermolysis [28,29], electrochemical atomic layer epitaxy (ECALE) [11], sol-gel spin coating, [30,31] doctor's blade, [32] and others [14,21,33,34]. Spin coating (SC) is a particularly useful method for the deposition of thin films [35,36].…”

Liquid–liquid interfaces: a unique and advantageous environment to prepare and process thin films of complex materials

“…73 Nanocrystalline metal sulfide (CdS, PbS, CuS and ZnS) thin films were also obtained by Thomas et al through a chemical reaction between toluene solutions of thiobiuret complexes [M(SON(CN i Pr 2 ) 2 ) 2 ] (M = Cd, Zn, Pb or Cu) and an aqueous solution of Na 2 S, and transferred from the L/L interface to solid substrates (glass, quartz, mica slides or ITO-coated glass slides) by dipping the substrate perpendicular to the interface into the aqueous layer and withdrawing it out of the vessel. 74…”