Growth and characteristics of lead sulfide nanocrystals produced by the porous alumina membrane

Lead sulfide (PbS) nanocrystals were formed by using Pb nanowires reacted with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas. The structure and composition of the as-prepared nanocrystals were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. According to the differential scanning calorimeter analysis, the PbS nanocrystals in a cubic structure owned excellent thermal stability. Furthermore, the optical properties including photoluminescence (PL) and Raman scatting spectrum were also measured. The PL emission measurement of the PbS nanocrystal showed that there was an orange–red emission peak located around 655 nm. A significant quantum confinement effect made the energy gap of PbS produce a blue shift from 0.41 eV to 1.9 eV.