A simple L-cystine-assisted solvothermal approach to Cu3SbS3 nanorods

A simple L-cystine-assisted synthetic route has been successfully developed to prepare Cu3SbS3 nanorods under solvothermal conditions. In this synthetic system, we used CuCl2 as the copper source, SbCl3 as the antimony source, and L-cystine as both sulfur source and complexing reagent. The obtained Cu3SbS3 nanorods were characterized by XRD, XPS, FESEM and TEM (HRTEM). The results showed that the Cu3SbS3 nanorods were 100–150 nm in width and several micrometers in length. A possible formation mechanism for Cu3SbS3 nanorods was also discussed. The proposed solvothermal method using L-cystine as the sulfur source provides an alternative approach to prepare other ternary semiconductor nanomaterials.