The Synthesis of Iron Sulphide Nanocrystals from Iron(II) Complexes with O-alkylxanthates and Bidentate Nitrogen Donor Ligands

Abstract

A series of iron(II) complexes with O-alkylxanthates and bidentate nitrogen donor ligands, Fe(S2COR)2·L (where R = Et, L = TMEDA (1); R = nPr, L = TMEDA (2); R = Et, L = bipy (3); R = nPr, L = bipy (4); R = iPr, L = bipy (5); R = Et, L = phen (6); R = nPr, L = phen (7); R= iPr, L = phen (8)), were synthesized as single source precursors for nanocrystals. Among them, (2) and (6) have been crystallized and their structures were determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography.The precursors from (1) to (6) have been used to synthesize iron sulfide nanoparticles by colloidal thermolysis. p-XRD pattern of the nanoparticles produced from complexes (1) and (2) at temperatures higher than 200 °C in oleylamine in 60 min showed the growth of pyrrhotite (Fe7S8) phase of iron sulfide whereas complexes (3), (4) and (5), gave mixed phases of troilite (FeS) and greigite (Fe3F4) at temperatures lower than 270 °C but only troilite at higher then 270 °C. Troilite nanosheets can be obtained from (6) at 330 °C. TEM images showed the morphology based on hexagonal nanosheets in all cases.Attempted deposition of thin films by aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) from complexes (1) and (3) was unsuccessful due to the solubility problem of these complexes.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2013
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Paul O'Brien (Supervisor) & Richard Layfield (Supervisor)