Growth of Cu2S ultrathin nanowires in a binary surfactant solvent.
We demonstrate a facile solution-phase method for the synthesis of single-crystal, high aspect ratio, and ultrathin nanowires of hexagonal-phase Cu2S by thermal decomposition of CuS2CNEt2 in a mixed surfactant solvent of dodecanethiol and oleic acid at 160 degrees C. Cu2S nanowires can be controllably synthesized with a diameter as thin as 1.7 nm and length up to tens of micrometers; they are usually aligned in the form of bundles with a thickness of hundreds of nanometers. Based on the experimental results, the formation mechanism of the ultrathin nanowires has been properly proposed. Some key synthetic parameters, which have a significant effect on the sizes and shapes of the products, have also been investigated in detail. UV-vis spectroscopy measurement reveals that the resultant ultrathin nanowires show a strong quantum size effect.
Liu
Zhaoping
Z
Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China.
Xu
Dan
D
Liang
Jianbo
J
Shen
Jianming
J
Zhang
Shuyuan
S
Qian
Yitai
Y