“…22 Nevertheless, these branched structures possess a high surface area, porosity, mechanical strength and exposed margins, making them favored candidates as active sites in electro-catalysis, 23 sensitizers in solar cells 24 and sensing applications. 25,26 However, only limited procedures have been proposed for the growth of the IV-VI branched nanostructures compared to the lower dimension counterparts (0D, 12,27,28 1D 19,29 and 2D 17,30 ). In 2002, the Cheon group 31 rst introduced a method for obtaining PbS nanostars (NSs) that involved a high injection temperature of 230 C. In 2006, Zhao and Qi 32 advanced the procedure, producing highly uniform PbS NSs at a low temperature of 80 C in an aqueous solvent of mixed cationic/anionic surfactants.…”