Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of HgS nanostructures assisted by inorganic precursor

In this paper, HgS nanostructures were synthesized from the reaction of N,N′-(disalicylidene-1,4-diaminobutane) mercury complex, [Hg(salbn)] as a novel precursor, via hydrothermal method. This method is facile and provides an appropriate condition for the preparation of structures with various morphologies. In this study, the effect of different parameters such as type of sulfur sources, reaction time and type of alkaline source on the morphology and the particle size were studied. The results indicated that the type of sulfur source plays an important role in the morphology of as-synthesized HgS. The synthesized materials were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectrum and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Flower-like HgS microcrystals were obtained by using TGA as sulfur source. The obtained results are discussed in detail.