Effect of precursor, microwave power and irradiation time on the particle size of CuInS2 nanoparticles

چکیده مقاله

Abstract This investigation reports synthesis of CuInS2 nanoparticles with the aid of (1,8-diamino-3,6-dioxaoctan)copper(II) sulfate ([Cu(DADO)]SO4), bis(propylenediamine)copper(II) sulfate ([Cu(pn)2]SO4) complexes, and thiosemicarbazid in the presence of microwave irradiation. Besides, sodium dodecyl sulfate and propylene glycol are used as capping agent and solvent, respectively. In this method, microwave irradiation creates the activation energy for dissociation of the precursors and leads to the CuInS2 nanoparticles formation. The effect of preparation parameters such as microwave power, irradiation time, and type of copper precursor on the particle size of products is studied. XRD results indicate that pure tetragonal phase CuInS2 can be only obtained after annealing at 400 C for 2 h in a gas mixture of 85 % Ar and 15 % H2. SEM images show that with decreasing the microwave power and irradiation time, particle size of CuInS2 nanoparticles decrease. On the other hand, the particle sizes of CuInS2 nanoparticle synthesized by [Cu(pn2)]SO4 are lower than that of [Cu(DADO)]SO4 due to its further more steric hindrance effect. Additionally, the photovoltaic measure- ments of the products show that the efficiency of the