Structural and morphological dependences of Sb2S3 nanobars synthesised by organo-colloidal process on precursor concentrations and reaction times

In this paper we report the synthesis of antimony sulphide (Sb2S3) nanobars performed using a simple organo-colloidal synthetic method. The as-synthesised Sb2S3 nanobars with various precursor concentrations and heating times showed differences in the morphology (open and enclosing forms) and structural parameters. UV-vis absorption measurements revealed that the optical band gap energies lay in the red part of the solar spectrum. The observed band gap energies, of nearly the same values (similar to 1.6 eV), proved that precursor concentrations and heating times had no effect on them. The structure refinement showed that the Sb2S3 powder belonged to the orthorhombic type with a space group Pbnm. It was found that Sb2S3 nanobars predominantly grew along the [010] direction, and that the unit cell parameters and the preferred orientation parameter (tau) refined against experimental data were quite dependent on both the precursor concentration and the heating time. The optimum heating time to nicely follow the dependence of structural parameters on the precursor concentration was observed. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.