Thickness tunable SnS nanosheets for photoelectrochemical water splitting

SnS is a promising material used in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting systems because of its proper optical band gap (1-1.6 eV) for solar energy conversion. In this paper, thickness tunable SnS nanosheets were synthesized with one-pot method by using SnCl2 and 1-dodecanethiol as the precursors, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectra measurements confirmed the structural and phase purities of SnS nanosheets. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements characterized the morphological properties of the products. The photocurrent densities of SnS nanoparticles with different thicknesses were compared, which indicated that thick SnS nanosheets yielded stronger photocurrent density than thin ones under illumination of AM 1.5.