Preparation of ultra-long Sb2Se3 nanoribbons via a short-time solvothermal process

Large-scale antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) nanoribbons with uniform size have been prepared by solvothermal method using antimony chloride (SbCl3), tartaric acid (C4H6O6) and selenium metal powder (Se) as raw materials, N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as the solvent at 180 °C for 4 h. The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern shows the Sb2Se3 crystals belong to the orthorhombic phase with calculated lattice constants a = 1.159, b = 1.172 and c = 0.3978 nm. The quantification of EDS analysis peaks gives an atomic ratio of 2:3 for Sb:Se. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) studies reveal the appearance of as-prepared Sb2Se3 is ribbon-like with the typical width of ca. 20 nm. Finally the influences of the reaction conditions are discussed and a possible mechanism for the formation of Sb2Se3 nanoribbons is proposed.