The formation of SnS nanorods orthorhombic phases grown from different molecular precursors

Abstract

The high theoretical ability of the tin sulfide (SnS) semiconductor makes it a potential material for solar cell applications. However, employing an environmentally friendly and cost-effective framework for the synthesis of SnS sustainable materials is essential. The attraction of the single-source precursor (SSP) route of preparing flexible nanostructured metal sulfide is due to its simplified procedures, high efficiency, fewer reagents and scale-up abilities. In this study, SSP route was used to prepare SnS nanoparticles with tunable sizes and better morphologies from three molecular precursors. XRD shows the structural characteristics of the three samples confirm the presence of orthorhombic phases for SnS1, SnS2 and SnS3. HRTEM images for SnS2 and SnS3 display irregular orthorhombic phases with an average size of 17.11 nm and 3.38–4.19 nm as compared to SnS1, which reveals a spherical structure and a grain size of 2.22–3.33 nm. There have been very few studies that have established nanorods SnS, but none from a single molecular precursor.