Hydrothermal synthesis and photoelectrochemical properties of In2S3 thin films with a wedgelike structure

Indium sulfide (In2S3) thin films with a wedgelike structure were prepared on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate by a facile hydrothermal method. By properly monitoring the experimental conditions, including the reaction time, concentrations of tartaric acid, precursor concentration ratio and the reaction temperature, the In2S3 films with different morphologies and thickness could be obtained, and the growth mechanism of β-In2S3 films was also proposed in this work. Furthermore, UV–vis absorption study revealed that the absorption range broadened with the growth of the In2S3 crystals. In addition, a photocurrent of 0.48 mA cm−2 was obtained under 100 mW cm−2 UV–visible illuminations of the wedgelike In2S3 thin films.