Synthesis and Crystal Growth of Sb2S3 Nanorods Using Iodine as an Initiator Material via Electrochemical Mechanism in Hydrothermal Condition

Crystalline antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) with nanorods morphology was successfully prepared via hydrothermal method by the reaction of elemental sulfur, antimony and iodine as starting materials with high yield at 180°C for 24h.Using oxidation reagents like iodine as an initiator of redox reaction to prepare Sb2S3 is reported for first time. Crystal growth of Sb2S3 was done by increasing reaction time up to 3 days. The powder X-ray diffraction pattern shows the Sb2S3 crystals belong to the orthorhombic phase with calculated lattice parameters of a=1.120nm, b=1.128nm and c=0.383nm. The quantification of energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry analysis peaks give an atomic ratio of 2:3 for Sb:S. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that the diameter of nanorods was around 250-380 nm and their length was less than 3 μm, respectively. After crystal growth due to increasing the reaction time, diameter of nanorods was reached to about 500-700 nm and their length extended to about 6 μm. UV-Vis analysis and emission spectra indicates that band gap of Sb2S3 is around 2.82eV, indicating a considerable blue shift relative to the bulk. Moreover,  formation mechanism of Sb2S3 nano structure was proposed and the effect of reaction time on the growth of nano materials was also investigated.