Low-temperature urea-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of Bi2S3 nanostructures with different morphologies

Different morphologies of single-crystalline orthorhombic phase bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) nanostructures, including sub-microtubes, nanoflowers and nanorods were synthesized by a urea-assisted hydrothermal method at a low temperature below 120 degrees C for 12 h. The as-synthesized powders were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and UV-vis spectrophotometry. The experimental results showed that the sulfur sources had a great effect on the morphology and size of the resulting powders. The formation mechanism of the Bi2S3 nanostructures with different morphologies was discussed. All Bi2S3 nanostructures showed an appearance of blue shift relative to the bulk orthorhombic Bi2S3, which might be ascribed to the quantum size effect of the final products. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim