Facile synthesis and characterization of high temperature phase FeS 2 pyrite nanocrystals

Abstract

The high temperature phase FeS 2 pyrite nanocrystals (NCs) with no impure phases, such as FeS 2 (marcasite), FeS (troilit) and Fe 1 - xS (pyrrhotite), as characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), are synthesized with commonly used precursors via a simple, economical route below 200 °C in air. These pyrite NCs, with the sizes and a band gap of around ~ 14 to ~ 18 nm and ~ 1.1 eV, respectively, are thermally stable at the annealing temperature below 350 °C in N 2 ambience. They are a promising candidate for optoelectronic applications, such as solar cells and photo-detectors, in the future. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.