Morphology controlled synthesis of spherical Bi ₂S ₃ flowers

The spherical Bi ₂S ₃ flowers have been fabricated by a facile environmentally friendly hydrothermal method. It was found that the flowers are composed of pure orthorhombic phase Bi ₂S ₃, the nanorods (nanowires) composed of the flowers grow radically from a center toward all directions to form a spherical structure, and the nanowires are single-crystalline and grow along the [001] direction The reaction time, reaction temperature and thiourea play key roles for the formation of the flowers. The morphology of the Bi ₂S ₃ flowers (e.g., honeycombs, porous nanorods, nanorods, and nanowires) can be controlled simply by controlling the reaction time without varying experimental parameters or addition of other surfactant. The formation mechanism of Bi ₂S ₃ flowers is self-assembly and the intrinsic splitting character of the Bi ₂S ₃ structure. The spherical Bi ₂S ₃ flowers could be found potential applications in optical, catalysts and sensor devices.