ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nanotechnol.
Sec. Nanomaterials
Synthesis of eco-friendly ternary sulfide nanocrystals with a new sulfur-decene reagent in hydrocarbons
Provisionally accepted
Ivan A. Shuklov*
Vladimir V LimAlexander Yu ShalaginAlexandra V SerajaOlesja V VershininaGleb M ZirnikDenis A VinnikVictor V Ivanov- Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, Russia
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A new highly reactive sulfur precursor was synthesized by dissolving elemental sulfur in 1-decene at an elevated temperature of 170 °C in a pressure tube, enabling the preparation of semiconductor sulfide nanocrystals (NCs) with diverse composition and morphology. By the application of this new reagent, we demonstrated the preparation of eco-friendly ternary sulfide ABS2 NCs (A = Cu, Ag; B = Ga, In). The chemical composition of this sulfur reagent was analyzed by spectrosopical methods and reactive species are revealed. The dependence of the morphology, size and optical properties of CuInS2 NCs on the reagents and solvents applied was studied in detail. Hexadecane is identified as a solvent providing the most narrow distribution among hydrocarbons. Ag9GaS6 colloidal NCs were obtained for the first time by applying the new sulfur precursor and fully characterized. All nanoparticles are characterized by optical spectroscopy, XRD, TEM, EDX, XPS, Raman and IR. The detailed FTIR investigation of ABS2 NCs revealed the mixed nature of ligand shell.
Keywords: Colloidal nanocrystals, Quantum dots, Solvent effect, sulfide, Sulfur
Received: 01 Aug 2025; Accepted: 09 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shuklov, Lim, Shalagin, Seraja, Vershinina, Zirnik, Vinnik and Ivanov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ivan A. Shuklov
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