Investigating the effect of solvents for the preparation of CuSbS2 nanoparticles by solvothermal method

High quality ternary CuSbS2 nanoparticles with orthorhombic structure and controllable morphologies were successfully synthesized using a facile solvothermal method. To prepare these particles, ethylene glycol and ethylenediamine were used as solvents and Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a structure directing ligand. Structural and morphological studies revealed that CuSbS2 nanoparticles prepared using PVP as surfactant and ethylene glycol as solvent produced a phase pure, controllable size and shaped nanoparticles. The electrical conductivity of the CuSbS2 pellets varied from 3.0987 × 10−2 to 9.103 × 10−2 S cm−1. Optical properties showed broad absorption in the visible region for all the samples and the estimated absorption band gap were found to vary from 1.11 eV to 1.42 eV whereas, analysis of fluorescence emission spectra provided the emission band gap of 1.59 eV. In both spectra, the results indicate that CuSbS2 nanomaterials have an optimum band gap energy which discloses the suitability for photovoltaic application.