SnS nanostructures prepared by simple film technique: catalyst-free vacuum thermal evaporation

SnS nanostructures were synthesised by simple vacuum thermal evaporation without any catalysts using tin chips and sulphur as the starting materials. The morphology was characterised by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) equipped with a high-resolution TEM. It was found that the as-prepared products were mostly tube shaped with a uniform geometry. The length of the nanostructures was several μm, the outer diameter and the thickness of the tubes was about 40-70 and 10-20 nm, respectively. The phase was analysed by X-ray diffraction and confirmed that the as-prepared products were of the orthorhombic phase. The photoluminescence spectra showed two emission bandcentres at 555.4 nm (2.24 eV) and at 785.0 nm (1.58 eV), which indicates that the SnS nanostructures could be used to prepare visible or an infrared light emitter or other optical devices.