Low-temperature synthesis and growth mechanism of uniform nanorods of bismuth sulfide

A low-temperature solution-phase method has been demonstrated for the synthesis of uniform nanorods of Bi2S3 with diameter of 18 nm and length of below 200 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected-area electron diffraction (SAED), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies revealed that these nanorods were grown from a colloidal dispersion of amorphous Bi2S3 particles, which was first formed through a thermal reaction between Bi-thiol complexes Bi(SC12)3 and thioacetamide (TAA) in a pure dodecanethiol (C12SH) solvent at a temperature of 95 °C. Based on these studies, the growth mechanism of Bi2S3 nanorods was properly proposed.