Synthesis and characterization of PbS mesostructures as an IR detector grown by hydrogen-assisted thermal evaporation

Lead sulfide (PbS) mesostructures (a mix of micro and nanostructures) were grown by a thermal evaporation method using a chemical vapor deposition set-up. The PbS mesostructures were grown in the presence of Ar and Ar/H2 gases as different carrier gases. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results revealed sunflower and star-like morphologies of the PbS mesostructures grown in the presence of Ar and Ar/H2 gases, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns obtained from two sets of the mesostructures indicated that these mesostructures were PbS with a cubic phase. Raman spectroscopy of the synthesized samples confirmed the XRD results and indicated five Raman active modes, which related to the PbS. Photoluminescence (PL) results of both samples showed a peak in the infrared (IR) region. Finally, the PbS mesostructures were used as IR detector by an IR source under different bias voltage conditions.