title: A general method for the large-scale synthesis of uniform ultrathin metal sulphide nanocrystals.
abstract: Ultrathin metal sulphide nanomaterials exhibit many unique properties, and are thus attractive materials for numerous applications. However, the high-yield, large-scale synthesis of well-defined ultrathin metal sulphide nanostructures by a general and facile wet-chemical method is yet to be realized. Here we report a universal soft colloidal templating strategy for the synthesis of high-quality ultrathin metal sulphide nanocrystals, that is 3.2 nm-thick hexagonal CuS nanosheets, 1.8 nm-diameter hexagonal ZnS nanowires, 1.2 nm-diameter orthorhombic Bi(2)S(3) nanowires and 1.8 nm-diameter orthorhombic Sb(2)S(3) nanowires. As a proof of concept, the ultrathin CuS nanosheets are used to fabricate an electrode for a lithium-ion battery, which exhibits a large capacity and good cycling stability, even after 360 cycles. Furthermore, high-yield, gram-scale production of these ultrathin metal sulphide nanomaterials has been achieved (~100%, without size-sorting process). Our method could be broadly applicable for the high-yield production of novel ultrathin nanostructures with great promise for various applications.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yaping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Zongyou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Jixin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xue-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhiyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Qingyu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang