Bi2S3 Nanotubes: Facile Synthesis and Growth Mechanism

Synthesis of tubular nanomaterials has become a prolific area of investigation due to their wide range of applications. A facile solution-based method has been designed to fabricate uniform Bi2S3 nanotubes with average size of 20 nm x 160 nm using only bismuth nitrate (Bi(NO3)(3)center dot 5H(2)O) and sulfur powder (S) as the reactants and octadecylamine (ODA) as the solvent. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) experiments were employed to characterize the resulting Bi2S3 nanotubes and the classic rolling mechanism was applied to explain their formation process.