Synthesis and structures of high-quality single-crystalline II ₃-V₂ semiconductors nanobelts

Due to the difficulties, such as lack of generalized synthetic methodologies, production of amorphous materials, diffraction pattern problems, and instability in air, etc., associated with II₃-V₂ semiconducting compounds (II and V indicate elements of Group II and Group V.), single-crystalline II₃-V₂ nanostructures are intrinsically harder to prepare and it has been a great challenge to produce single-crystalline one-dimensional ii₃-V₂ nanostructures. Here, by using a mixture of ZnS (or CdS) and Mn₃P₂ as the source materials, we demonstrate the successful synthesis of high-quality single-crystalline Zn₃P₂ and Cd₃P₂ nanobelts. Systematic structural analyses, such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectrometer, were performed on these novel II ₃-V₂ nanomaterials. By a judicious choice of source materials, II₃-V₂ nanobelts with compositions other than Cd₃P₂ and Zn₃P₂, such as Cd ₃As₂, Zn₃As₂, etc., may also be fabricated.