Facile synthesis and characterization of CuInS2 nanocrystals with different structures and shapes

CuInS2 nanocrystals were synthesized by one-pot thermolysis of a mixture solution of metal chlorides, 1-dodecanethiol (DT) and oleic acid in noncoordinating solvent 1-octadecene. Interestingly, in this synthesis, different structures and shapes were obtained by simply varying the dosage of DT. At a low dosage of DT, wurtzite nanoplates formed in the initial reaction stage and then they further grew to nanoplates with wurtzite-zincblende polytypism as the reaction proceeded. On the contrary, a high dosage of DT produced zincblende nanoparticles. The formation processes of nanoplates and nanoparticles were studied and a growth mechanism was proposed. Our research will aid in solution-synthesis of ternary chalcogenide nanocrystals and the development of their optoelectronic devices.