Synthesis of antimony sulfide nanotubes with ultrathin walls via gradual aspect ratio control of nanoribbons

A highly reproducible wet chemical synthesis of antimony sulfide nanotubes with ultrathin walls by controlling the aspect ratio of nanoribbons was reported. Antimony sulfide nanotubes of SbCl3 were dissolved in 2 mL of oleylamine using sonication and keeping the temperature of the solution sufficiently low to avoid the formation of turbid solution. The very thin and long nanoribons in TEM image obtained by adding 2.25 equivalent of sulfur to antimony chloride have width average of 2.3 nm, thickness of 1.8 nm, and length of 10 μm. The results show that nanotubes with 6.7 nm average width are observed in some regions, which are formed by the rolling process of the nanoribbons. The measured average diameter of nanotubes of 10.4 μm can be transformed to the width of the postulated nanoribbons by multiplying it by π. The blue-colored diagram shows that the widths of nanoribbons are controlled by variation of sulfur concentration and the aspect ratios.