Optical and Structural Properties of Tin Sulfide Nanoparticles Obtained via Solvothermal Routes

The effect of using different solvothermal approaches, involving heat‐up and hot‐injection routes, on the phase, morphology and optical properties of tin sulfide nanoparticles using novel dibutyltin(IV) p‐methylphenyl dithiocarbamate as single source precursor compound have been studied. Dibutyltin(IV) p‐methylphenyldithiocarbamate was synthesized and characterized using various spectroscopic techniques (FT‐IR, ¹H, ¹³C and ¹¹⁹Sn), and elemental analysis. TG analysis, studied under nitrogen, revealed tin sulfide of the rare mixed‐valence binary phase (Sn₂S₃) as the final residue at the end of the decomposition process. The samples presented as SnS1 and SnS2 obtained by the heat‐up and hot injection routes respectively, at 220 °C and in the presence of oleylamine as surfactant, revealed the α‐cubic phase of SnS with Herzenbergite structure. The X‐ray diffraction analysis of the nanoparticles also revealed patterns which showed preferred growth along (111) orientation; hence, favoring anisotropic shapes which were more distinct at higher magnification images of the TEM as a pseudo spherical morphology tending toward the formation of short rods. The optical property of the nanoparticles exhibited a blue shift in the bandgap energy with respect to the bulk, which is an evidence of quantum confinement effect.