Environmentally benign and cost-effective synthesis of well-aligned nanoporous PbS nanowire architectures

Abstract

A simple, efficient and environmentally benign route has been developed for shape-controlled synthesis of well-aligned nanoporous PbS nanowire architectures. The resultant homogeneous individual nanowires in the architecture are straight, smooth and well-aligned. Surface area and average pore diameter of the as-synthesized material are 62 m² g⁻¹ and 7.9 nm, respectively. Biomolecule L-cysteine, which has strong abilities for coordinating with metal ions, was employed to coordinate with Pb and assemble precursor L-cysteine–Pb in aqueous solution at room temperature. The precursor L-cysteine–Pb was then transformed to nanoporous PbS nanowire architectures by simple thermal decomposition at atmospheric pressure. L-cysteine provides the sulfur source of PbS and produce porosity in the nanowires during decomposition at high temperature. The synthetic method was implemented as a viable technique for synthesis of nano-structures using green synthetic methodologies.