Preparation of rod-like Sb2S3 dendrites processed in conventional hydrothermal

Large-scale rod-like antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) dendrites have been prepared by hydrothermal method using antimony chloride (SbCl3), citric acid and thioacetamide as raw materials at 160 °C for 12 h. The powder X-ray diffraction pattern shows the Sb2S3 crystals belong to the orthorhombic phase with calculated lattice parameters a = 1.120 nm, b = 1.128 nm and c = 0.3830 nm. The quantification of energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry analysis peaks gives an atomic ratio of 2:3 for Sb:S. Transmission electron microscopy micrograph studies reveal the appearance of the as-prepared Sb2S3 is dendrites-like which is composed of nanorods with the typical width of 300–500 nm and length of 5–20 µm. Finally the influences of the reaction conditions are discussed and a possible mechanism for the formation of rod-like Sb2S3 dendrites is proposed.