Facile synthesis of Sb2S3 micro-materials for highly sensitive visible light photodetectors and photocatalytic applications

The current study shows that by varying the amount of ethanolamine in precursor solutions, Sb2S3 structures with large sizes (up to 10 & mu;m) and strong visible light photosensitivity and photocatalytic activity can be prepared. Chemicals such as ethanolamine, thiourea, 2-methoxy ethanol, and antimony (III) chloride were employed to prepare Sb2S3 micro-structures. XRD and Raman studies show that all samples crystallize in an orthorhombic crystal structure without a secondary phase. Measurements of photosensitivity in visible light reveal that the decay and rise times are around 0.4 and 0.2 s for the samples. According to the photoluminescence data, it is possible to decrease the structural defects in Sb2S3 and thereby enhance the photosensitivity up to 2600 by varying the amount of ethanolamine. On the other hand, in studies using 100-Watt visible light and 0.4 mg/ml photocatalytic Sb2S3 material, it was observed that the methylene blue solution was degraded by 95.88% within 60 min. The findings suggest that the amount of ethanolamine in the precursor is critical in the development of Sb2S3 semiconductor materials for photodetectors and photocatalytic applications.