Growth of PbS nanoparticles and nanorods through a simple synthetic route: A mechanistic study of the thioglycerol-catalyzed hydrolysis of thiosulfate

Abstract

Water-soluble PbS nanoparticles (NPs) and nanorods were grown using Pb(NO3)2 and Na2S2O3 as the precursors. Thioglycerol (TG) was shown to exhibit a catalytic role in the reaction and also acted as a capping agent. The solution pH plays an important role in nanocrystal growth, as higher pH leads to a higher release rate of S2−. This provides a way to control the nucleation growth processes. It was also demonstrated that dispersity of the obtained PbS NPs is related to the solution pH. PbS NPs with better water-solubility and narrower size distribution were produced by increasing the solution pH. The kinetics of hydrolysis of sodium thiosulfate has been examined.