Synthesis and characterization of phase-purity Cu9BiS6 nanoplates

Single crystalline Cu9BiS6 nanoplates have been synthesized via a hydrothermal route. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed these resultant nanoplates having cubic symmetry with the cell constant of 0.556 nm. The morphology of these nanoplates identified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was the hexagonal and octagonal configurations respectively. Microstructure characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed six side surfaces of the hexagonal nanoplate coincident with the {110} lattice planes and the octagonal nanoplate enclosed by the four {100} and four {110} lattice planes. Optical diffuse reflectance measurement demonstrated that these Cu9BiS6 nanoplates have a band gap of 1.25 eV.