Shape controlled synthesis of tadpole-like and heliotrope seed-like AgInS2nanocrystals

Abstract

A convenient synthesis strategy was developed to synthesize tadpole-like and heliotrope seed-like AgInS₂ nanocrystals by thermolysis of sliver acetylacetonate (Agacac) and indium acetylacetonate [In(acac)₃] in a high boiling point solvent. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (2D-FFT), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to investigate the factors of shape-controlled and the process of the phase transformation. In addition, it was found that the growth process of tadpole-like AgInS₂ nanocrystals started with the formation of biphasic Ag-AgInS₂ heterostructured nanocrystals and finally transformed into monophasic AgInS₂ nanocrystals. These compositional, structural, and mechanistic findings provide valuable insight into the controlled solution growth of ternary chalcogenide nanocrystals and will aid in the development of solar cells using ternary I-III-VI₂ semiconductors.