Facile hydrothermal synthesis of hydrotropic Cu2ZnSnS4 nanocrystal quantum dots: band-gap engineering and phonon confinement effect

W. C. Liu; B. L. Guo; X. S. Wu; F. M. Zhang; C. L. Mak; K. H. Wong

doi:10.1039/C3TA00357D

Facile hydrothermal synthesis of hydrotropic Cu₂ZnSnS₄nanocrystalquantum dots: band-gap engineering and phonon confinement effect

W. C. Liu,*^a B. L. Guo,^a X. S. Wu,*^b F. M. Zhang,^ab C. L. Mak*^c and K. H. Wong^c

* Corresponding authors

^a National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Photovoltaic Engineering Center, School of Modern Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
E-mail: wcliu@nju.edu.cn

^b National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Photovoltaic Engineering Center, School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
E-mail: xswu@nju.edu.cn

^c Department of Applied Physics and Materials Research Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
E-mail: apaclmak@polyu.edu.hk

Abstract

We developed a facile hydrothermal method for synthesizing ultrafine size-controllable earth-abundant Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) nanocrystals using simple Cu(II), Zn(II) and Sn(II) inorganic salts and thiourea in a mixed ethylenediamine and di-water solution as precursors. X-ray diffraction, Raman scattering and transmission electron microscopy confirm that pure kesterite structure CZTS nanocrystals have been synthesized at temperatures as low as 180 °C. Broadening of Raman peaks and blue-shift of the absorption edge is attributed to quantum confinement within the nanocrystals. The hydrophilism and tunable band-gap of the CZTS nanocrystals show the potential applications of the nanocrystals for biological labelling and quantum dot based solar cells.

Article information

https://doi.org/10.1039/C3TA00357D

Article type

Paper

Submitted

18 Sep 2012

Accepted

08 Jan 2013

First published

09 Jan 2013

Download Citation

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013,1, 3182-3186

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Facile hydrothermal synthesis of hydrotropic Cu₂ZnSnS₄ nanocrystal quantum dots: band-gap engineering and phonon confinement effect

W. C. Liu, B. L. Guo, X. S. Wu, F. M. Zhang, C. L. Mak and K. H. Wong, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013, 1, 3182 DOI: 10.1039/C3TA00357D

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A