Molecular Precursor Route to Iron Sulfide Semiconductor Nanomaterials

Abstract

The synthesis of (II-VI, III-V and IV-VI) semiconductor nanostructures has been the focus of many studies. A number of these compounds are toxic, including lead and cadmium chalcogenides, indium phosphide and gallium arsenide, and others are rare or highly expensive to manufacture. This makes them impracticable for production on a large scale. Therefore, cost-effective, basic semiconductor materials that contain Earth-abundant elements remain a key requirement. Transition metal sulfides, such as iron sulfide, are promising candidates for potential applications in numerous fields, owing to their optical, electrical and magnetic properties. The following thesis discusses the synthesis of iron complexes and explores their use as single-source precursors for iron sulfide nanoparticles and thin films. This study includes a detailed investigation of the effect of several growth parameters with regard to the properties of the materials produced, such as deposition temperature, type of precursor and deposition method. Many deposition routes were used in this thesis, such as AACVD and other simple and inexpensive methods. These methods, which include spin coating and solventless thermolysis, have not been used before in relation to the synthesis of iron sulfides. Characterization of the nanoscale materials produced is performed using p-XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, UV–visible absorption spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Overall, the findings of this thesis indicate that an opportunity exists to direct the production of iron sulfide phases by the judicious choice of deposition route, temperature and precursor type, which are of significance in the production of phase-pure materials.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	David Collison (Supervisor), Paul O'Brien (Supervisor) & David Lewis (Supervisor)