Controlled solvothermal synthesis and properties of Cu₂SnS₃ nanoparticles

Cu₂SnS₃ (CTS) nanocrystallites were successfully obtained through a facile solvothermal technique at 140 and 200 °C for 24 h. In this work, the effect of temperature on structural, morphological and optical characteristics was investigated. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the samples proved the polycrystalline nature and the formation of pure cubic Cu₂SnS₃ structure with (111) preferential orientation. No peak referring to other binary or ternary phases were detected in the patterns. We found that by increasing the temperature, the average crystallite sizes calculated using the Debye–Scherrer formula increased from 10 to 23 nm and the direct optical band gap increased from 1.30 to 1.44 eV. The Magnetic measurements at room temperature reveal paramagnetic behavior. In this study, Cu₂SnS₃ nanocrystals were prepared through an environmental-friendly facile solvothermal method. It was found that the crystal structure and morphology of the productions were strongly influenced by the reaction conditions including temperature. In our case, the temperature seems to affect the quality of the nanoparticles and may be the cause of the presence of such forms. At increasing more particles on the surface may agglomerate to form bigger grains.