Size-controlled synthesis of orderly organized cube-shaped lead sulfide nanocrystals via a solvothermal single-source precursor method

Monodisperse cube-shaped lead sulfide (PbS) nanocrystals were successfully synthesized by virtue of a solvothermal single-source precursor method at mild reaction conditions. These resulted PbS nanocrystals have the average size in a range of 10 nm and a uniform cubic shape, shown by TEM and HRTEM, respectively. Due to their narrow size distribution, orderly self-organized arrays on a large scale can be easily obtained. Experimental results indicate that several factors, such as coordinating ability of the solvent, carbon number of the substitute alkyls (n), reaction temperature, and concentration of the precursor, play key roles in the final size and size distribution of PbS nanocrystals. This finding will enhance our understanding for the formation mechanism of nanostructured materials with special shapes.