Synthesis, Characterization, and Photocatalytic Properties of In₂S₃, ZnIn₂S₄, and CdIn₂S₄ Nanocrystals

A one-pot method has been employed to synthesize the nanocrystals of In 2 S 3, ZnIn 2 S 4, and CdIn 2 S 4 . The single-source precursor [In(bipy)(SC{O}Ph) 3 ] has been used for making In 2 S 3 nanocrystals. On the other hand, [Zn(SC{O}Ph) 2 ]·2H 2 O or [Cd(SC{O}Ph) 2 ]·2H 2 O was reacted with [In(bipy)(SC{O}Ph) 3 ] and decomposed to make the corresponding ternary metal indium sulfides. The nanocrystals have been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), transmission (TEM) and scanning electron microscopies (SEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns, and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Parameters such as temperature, molar ratio of precursor to surfactant, duration of reaction time, and surfactant type were varied to investigate their influence on the morphology and size of nanomaterial. It was found that In 2 S 3 exhibits different morphologies under different reaction conditions whereas the effect of these reactions conditions on the morphological evolution is not very prominent for ZnIn 2 S 4 and CdIn 2 S 4 . All the synthesized metal ternary In 2 S 3 showed efficient photocatalytic degradation of dye under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. We observed that the degradation of dye is much faster in chloroform than in the aqueous solution as the dispersion of nanoparticles is more homogeneous in chloroform solution. A comparison of the photocatalytic activity of In 2 S 3 with ZnIn 2 S 4 and CdIn 2 S 4 having similar morphology and size shows that the photocatalytic activity of the ternary chalcogenides of In 2 S 3 is considerably enhanced.