Synthesis and Growth Mechanism of Bi₂S₃ Nanoribbons

Abstract

This article describes a facile solvothermal method by using mixed solvents for the large-scale synthesis of Bi(2)S(3) nanoribbons with lengths of up to several millimeters. These nanoribbons were formed by a solvothermal reaction between Bi(III)-glycerol complexes and various sulfur sources in a mixed solution of aqueous NaOH and glycerol. HRTEM (high-resolution transmission electron microscopy) and SAED (selective-area electron diffraction) studies show that the as-synthesized nanoribbons had predominately grown along the [001] direction. The Bi(2)S(3) nanoribbons prepared by the use of different sulfur sources have a common formation process: the initial formation of NaBiS(2) polycrystals, which serve as the precursors to Bi(2)S(3), the decomposition of NaBiS(2), and the formation of Bi(2)S(3) seeds in the solution through a homogeneous nucleation process; the growth of Bi(2)S(3) nanoribbons occurs at the expense of NaBiS(2) materials. The growth mechanism of millimeter-scale nanoribbons involves a special solid-solution-solid transformation as well as an Ostwald ripening process. Some crucial factors affect nanoribbon growth, such as, solvothermal temperature, volume ratio of glycerol to water, and the concentration of NaOH; these have also been discussed.

A Facile Synthesis and Characterization of Sodium Bismuth Sulfide (NaBiS2) under Hydrothermal Condition

“…6,7 In that report, when higher concentration of NaOH is added to the reaction medium, NaBiS 2 is found at the bottom of the autoclave. …”

Solvent-controlled morphology of bismuth sulfide for supercapacitor applications

“…In our study, we demonstrate that the use of a suitable solvent or mixture of solvents enables the formation of nanometer-sized Bi 2 S 3 with unique structural forms, including microspheres composed of bean-like units (Bi 2 S 3 -W) and homogeneous nanospheres (Bi 2 S 3 -EG/W). Recently, a solvothermal synthesis in a mixed solvent system (including water as a system component) has been shown to be an effective approach for the synthesis of nanostructures with novel shapes and uniform sizes, such as skeleton spheres, cubes, yarn balls and roses [39,40,47]. As previously reported [40], adjusting the solvent components and their ratios allows the growth of a metal sulfide with a diverse morphology to be controlled.…”

“…However, optimizing the solvothermal process by altering the solvent mixture has not attracted much attention. According to previous reports [39,40], syntheses in mixed solvents favor the formation of nanostructures with more uniform sizes and uncommon architectures compared with syntheses in single solvents. Most reports have focused on the synthesis of Bi 2 S 3 in water [19,22,23,25,27,34,38,41].…”

“…All of these structures have been obtained using various approaches, including solvothermal syntheses [21,22,27,28,30,34,38]. The nanostructure of Bi 2 S 3 is highly sensitive to synthesis parameters such as the substrate molar ratio [27,34], temperature [22,34,39], synthesis time [34] and sulfur precursor [38,39]. However, optimizing the solvothermal process by altering the solvent mixture has not attracted much attention.…”

3D Hierarchical Bi2S3 Nanostructures by Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Chloride Ion-Assisted Synthesis and Their Photodetecting Properties

“…In recent years, various morphologies of Bi 2 S 3 micro-/nanostructures, including one-dimensional (1D) nanoribbons/nanowires [16][17][18][19] and nanorods [20], two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets [10], and three-dimensional (3D) hierarchically complex architectures [13,16], have been fabricated. Among them, 3D hierarchically porous and hollow nanostructures have showed enhanced properties for applications in lithium-ion batteries [21], photocatalysts [22], and gas sensors [23], because of their large surface area and facile electron (ion) transport.…”