A simple approach to the synthesis of Cu_1.8S dendrites with thiamine hydrochloride as a sulfur source and structure-directing agent

• Xiaoliang Yan,
• Sha Li,
• Yun-xiang Pan,
• Zhi Yang and
• Xuguang Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 881–885, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.90

• nitrate and thiamine hydrochloride were selected as the starting materials in the water phase under hydrothermal conditions. No addition of a surfactant or a complex reagent was required for the synthesis of the Cu1.8S dendrite structures. Thiamine hydrochloride was employed as a sulfur source and

• structure-directing agent. The growth mechanism of Cu1.8S is tentatively discussed based on the experimental and computational results. Keywords: biomaterials; crystal growth; crystal structure; Cu1.8S dendrite; hydrothermal; Introduction Recently, Cu1.8S with a unique structure has attracted great

• the observed lattice spacing of 0.196 and 0.278 nm match with the (0 1 20) and (1 0 10) planes of Cu1.8S, respectively. It can be concluded from the analysis that the main trunk of a Cu1.8S dendrite grows along the (0 1 20) direction. To understand the formation mechanism of the Cu1.8S dendrite, we