Synthetic routes to iron chalcogenide nanoparticles and thin films.

Iron chalcogenides are earth abundant, cheap and environmentally benign materials that have seen extensive research directed toward a range of applications, most notably for photovoltaics. The most common forms of materials for these applications are either nanoparticles or thin films. This perspective seeks to summarise the key synthetic routes to these materials by highlighting the key aspects that lead to control over phase and morphology.

The effect of alkyl chain length on the structure of lead(ii) xanthates and their decomposition to PbS in melt reactions.

A series of lead(ii) alkylxanthates, [Pb(S2COR)2] (R = ethyl (1), n-propyl (2), n-butyl (3), n-hexyl (4) or n-octyl (5)) have been prepared and explored as single source precursors for use in melt reactions to form lead sulfide. X-ray single crystal structures of (2), (3) and (4) were used along with previously reported structures to investigate the influence of structure and chain length on the materials produced. The complexes were decomposed at 150, 175 or 200 °C forming PbS nanocrystals as confirmed by XRD and TEM. Analysis by SEM shows that the choice of precursor had an influence on nanocrystal size with longer alkyl chains resulting in smaller cubic nanocrystals. In addition to cubes, anisotropic growth was observed from decomposition of compound (5).

Tris[bis-(2-methyl-prop-yl)dithio-phosphinato]bis-muth(III).

The title compound, [Bi(C(8)H(18)PS(2))(3)], contains a Bi(III) cation surrounded by three bis-(2-methyl-prop-yl)dithio-phosphinate anions, leading to a distorted octa-hedral coordination for the heavy metal. The Bi-S and S-P bond lengths are in the ranges 2.7694 (18)-2.8391 (17) and 2.019 (2)-2.035 (2) Å, respectively. The crystal structure is consolidated by C-H⋯S hydrogen bonds. Intra-molecular C-H⋯π inter-actions also play a role in stabilizing the mol-ecules.

Synthesis of single-crystalline CoP nanowires by a one-pot metal-organic route.

A simple one-pot method has been used to prepare uniform single-crystalline CoP nanowires with a high aspect ratio by the thermal-decomposition reaction of cobalt(II) acetylacetone with long-chain alkylphosphonic acid in the presence of hexadecylamine (HDA) and trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) at high temperature. The crystal morphology of the resulting nanowires can be influenced by the ratio of HDA and TOPO.