Solvothermal synthesis and characterization of carbon nanotube–CuInS2 hybrids

• CuInS2 nanoparticles are grown on MWCNTs by a solvothermal approach.
• Reaction conditions greatly influence the resulting MWCNT–CuInS2 hybrids.
• The hybrid samples have been extensively characterized.
• The hybrids show better optical limiting performance than MWCNTs.

CuInS2 nanoparticles (NPs) have been decorated on the sidewalls of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by a solvothermal approach using copper diethyldithiocarbamate and indium diethyldithiocarbamate as precursors. The resulting MWCNT–CuInS2 hybrid samples have been extensively characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform IR spectra, ultraviolet–visible–near infrared spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The precursor concentration, reaction temperature and reaction time have a great influence on the size and morphology of the formed CuInS2 NPs. The open-aperture z-scan technique has been used to study the nonlinear optical properties of two typical MWCNT–CuInS2 samples, which show better optical limiting performance than purified MWCNTs.

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