Colloidal synthesis of chalcostibite copper antimony sulfide nanocrystals

Abstract We report the colloidal synthesis of monodisperse phase pure chalcostibite CuSbS 2 nanocrystals in high boiling point solvent. The use of dodecanethiol as ligands had an advantage over oleylamine on avoiding the hydrolysis of Sb precursor. The effect of reaction temperature and Cu/Sb feed molar ratio on the synthesis of copper antimony sulfide nanocrystals in dodecanethiol system was investigated. As a result of the reactivity difference between Cu and Sb precursors, the formation of CuSbS 2 nanocrystals involves the preferential nucleation of Cu-rich nanocrystals and their subsequent reaction with remaining Sb precursors. The band gap of the resulting CuSbS 2 nanocrystals was measured to be ~1.59 eV.