The color change implies nucleation and subsequent growth of nanocrystals due to the decomposition of as-formed metal thiolates. To investigate the growth process of CGS nanoplates, the samples collected at different reaction AR-13324 order times were characterized by SEM, TEM and XRD, as shown in Figure 4. From Figure 4a (a1), it was surprisingly found that the sample collected at the early reaction stage was not CGS but binary copper eFT-508 in vivo sulfides (Additional file 1: Figure S2). As the

reaction further proceeded, the samples mainly contain CGS along with the decrease of binary copper sulfides (Figure 4a (a2 to a6)). When the reaction was performed for 40 min, the product (Figure 1) was pure CGS nanoplates with a hardly detectable binary copper sulfide phase. Hence, in the growth process of CGS nanoplates, copper sulfides firstly formed, and then the as-formed copper sulfides were gradually phase-transformed to CGS nanoplates with BI 10773 proceeding of the reaction. The formation of copper sulfides in the early reaction stage maybe results from the difference of the reaction reactivity of two cationic precursors. From Figure 4b,c,d,e,f,g, it was clearly observed that all these intermediate samples were hexagonal nanoplates and the diameter of the nanoplates became uneven with the prolonged reaction, which may be due to the

Ostwald ripening growth process. Figure 4 XRD patterns (a) and SEM images (b, c, d, e, f, g) of samples collected at different reaction times. (a1, b) 220°C, 0 min; (a2, c) 250°C, 0 min; (a3, d) 270°C, 0 min; (a4, e) 270°C, 10 min; (a5, f) 270°C, 20 min; (a6, g) 270°C, 30 min. The inset in b is the corresponding TEM image. Finally, the ultraviolet–visible absorption spectrum of as-synthesized CGS nanoplates has been measured at room temperature, as shown in Figure 5. A broad shoulder in the absorption spectrum can be observed at approximately 490 nm. According to the absorption spectrum, the optical bandgap of CGS can

be estimated by using the equation of (αhv) n  = B(hν - E g), where α is the absorption coefficient, hν is the photo energy, Buspirone HCl B is a constant, E g is optical bandgap, and n is either 1/2 for an indirect transition or 2 for a direct transition. As a direct bandgap semiconductor, the optical bandgap of CGS was estimated by extrapolating the linear region of a plot of (αhv)2 versus hv (shown in the inset of Figure 5). The estimated optical bandgap of as-synthesized CGS nanoplates is 2.24 eV. The bandgap is smaller than the literature value for wurtzite or zincblende CGS [20], which may be caused by the copper-rich composition of the as-synthesized nanoplates. Figure 5 Absorption spectrum of as-synthesized CuGaS 2 nanoplates. The bandgap is determined from the plot of (αhv)2 vs. photon energy (shown in the inset).