Polypyrrole coating of tartaric acid-assisted synthesized Bi2S3 nanorods

Single crystalline Bi2S3 nanorods have been synthesized by a tartaric acid-assisted hydrothermal route. The presence of tartaric acid is found to be essential for one-dimensional growth of the product. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern identified the product to be of orthorhombic phase and growth direction of the nanorods along the specific plane has been determined through a series of high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) studies that agrees well with the general direction of growth for one-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials. These nanorods have been subsequently coated with polypyrrole (PPy) for the first time in order to prepare a material with hybrid core-shell structure. The coating obtained is smooth in nature and uniform in thickness. The shell thickness could be changed by controlling the monomer concentration and varies linearly with monomer input. Raman spectra have been also used to characterize the PPy-coated nanorods.