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Nanorods of bismuth sulphide were prepared by thermal decomposition of bismuth N-ethyl cyclohexyl dithiocarbamate at different calcination duration. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that at 400 °C, the precursor was fully decomposed to orthorhombic bismuth sulphide after 2 h of calcination. Besides, calcination duration does not affect the existence of Bi 2 S 3 phase. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses reveal that Bi 2 S 3 nanorods with an average width ranging from 29–36 nm were obtained. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis confirmed the atomic ratio of Bi and S close to 2:3, giving a possible composition of Bi 2 S 3 . Direct band gap energy of Bi 2 S 3 decreases from 1.83 eV to 1.54 eV as calcination time increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthesis of nanostructured semiconductor materials from various single source precursors has been massively explored for potential applications in modern technology. Thermal decomposition method has been employed to prepare nanoparticles zinc sulphide from zinc N-ethyl cyclohexyl dithiocarbamate precursor. Effect of heat treatment at different calcination duration on the structural, morphological, compositional and band gap properties of zinc sulphide were investigated. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. XRD showed the precursor was decomposed to hexagonal zinc sulphide after 2–6 h of calcination duration at 400 °C. The sizes of zinc sulphide (ZnS) nanoparticles obtained from TEM analysis were about 6–11 nm. The existence of the hexagonal ZnS phase is not affected by the calcination duration, while only a slight difference in the crystallinity and crystallite size of ZnS is observed from XRD analysis. EDX analyses reveal that the as-prepared ZnS nanoparticles have an approximate composition of Zn and S close to 1:1, giving a possible composition of ZnS. Besides, direct band gap energy of ZnS was found to be around 3.78–3.95 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]