Films of Bi2S3

Semiconducting bismuth sulfide thin films have received considerable attention in recent years because of their applications in various areas of science and technology. Among the different deposition techniques for thin films of Bi2S3, chemical bath deposition has been singled out as an inexpensive, simple, and convenient technique for large-area applications. We have reported that in the temperature range of 170–400°C, annealing in vacuum, argon, or hydrogen renders a highly conductive (∼102–103 Ω−1 cm−1) n-type material, while in air, the conductivity goes through a maximum of 0.54 Ω−1 cm−1. X-ray studies of the annealed samples have shown that an amorphous to crystalline transition takes place around 170–200°C in all the environments studied and that the details of the conductivity enhancement mechanisms at higher temperatures are gas dependent. At high temperatures and under inert environments, the films are rich in bismuth and with a complex morphology. This complex or segregated morphology is not desired in many applications. Therefore, it is useful to establish thermal treatments' pressure or temperature regime in which crystalline and conductive one-phase systems are still obtained. One dimensional (1-D) nanostructures of metal chalcogenides, especially those of Bi2S3, are among the most widely studied. Bi2S3 is an n-type crystalline semiconductor with direct bandgap in the range of 1.3–1.7 eV1,2,3 Several studies have reported interesting morphologies of Bi2S3 in the form of nanoparticles, nanorods, nanotubes, nanowires, nanoflakes and nanoflowers1,4,5,6,7,8,9. These 1-D nanostructures of Bi2S3 have been reported to exhibit enhanced electrical, thermal and optoelectronic properties and thereby are extensively investigated for a variety of applications such as photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, infrared spectroscopy and field emission8,9. In a recent study, polymer-coated Bi2S3 nanoparticles were used for in vivo x-ray imaging applications as contrast agents in x-ray computed tomography10. The nanoparticles showed significantly higher x-ray absorption (five-folds) in comparison to the conventional iodinated contrast agents. The relatively high effective atomic-number (Z) of Bi2S3 allows it to undergo photoelectric interaction with a wide range of x-ray energies, making it a suitable material for clinical x-ray dosimetry. Subsequently, there is a growing interest to use bismuth-based materials for high-energy dosimetric applications. If you are looking for high quality, high purity and cost-effective Bi2S3, or if you require the latest price of Bi2S3, please feel free to email contact mis-asia.