Well-defined Sb₂S₃ nanostructures: Citric acid-assisted synthesis, electrochemical hydrogen storage properties

Well-defined (three-dimensional) 3-D dandelion-like Sb₂S ₃ nanostructures consisted of numerous nanorods have been achieved via a facile citric acid-assisted solvothermal process. The as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), respectively. The influence factors of the formation of the hierarchical Sb₂S₃ nanostructures are discussed in details based on FESEM characterizations. By simply controlling the quantity of citric acid, the nucleation and growth process can be readily tuned, which brings the different morphologies and nanostructures of the final products. On the basis of a series of contrastive experiments, the aggregation-based process and anisotropic growth mechanism are reasonably proposed to understand the formation mechanism of Sb₂S₃ hierarchical architectures with distinctive morphologies including nanorods, and dandelion-like nanostructures. Charge-discharge curves of the obtained Sb₂S₃ nanostructures were measured to investigate their electrochemical hydrogen storage behaviors. It revealed that the morphology played a key role on the hydrogen storage capacity of Sb₂S₃ nanostructure. The dandelion-like Sb₂S₃ nanostructures exhibited higher hydrogen storage capacity (108 mAh g^-1) than that of Sb ₂S₃ nanorods (95 mAh g^-1) at room temperature. Well-defined (three-dimensional) 3-D dandelion-like Sb₂S₃ nanostructures consisted of numerous nanorods have been achieved via a facile citric acid-assisted solvothermal process. The as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), respectively. The influence factors of the formation of the hierarchical Sb₂S₃ nanostructures are discussed in details based on FESEM characterizations. By simply controlling the quantity of citric acid, the nucleation and growth process can be readily tuned, which brings the different morphologies and nanostructures of the final products. On the basis of a series of contrastive experiments, the aggregation-based process and anisotropic growth mechanism are reasonably proposed to understand the formation mechanism of Sb₂S₃ hierarchical architectures with distinctive morphologies including nanorods, and dandelion-like nanostructures. Charge-discharge curves of the obtained Sb₂S₃ nanostructures were measured to investigate their electrochemical hydrogen storage behaviors. It revealed that the morphology played a key role on the hydrogen storage capacity of Sb₂S₃ nanostructure. The dandelion-like Sb₂S₃ nanostructures exhibited higher hydrogen storage capacity (108 mAh g^-1) than that of Sb ₂S₃ nanorods (95 mAh g^-1) at room temperature.