中国科学院大学 School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Ag₂S is a semiconducting material with excellent photoelectric property and good chemical stability. Ag₂S in bulk film has been used in a number of commercially available optical and electronic devices. Combination of Ag2S and Ag into the same nanostructures will be expected to exhibit synergetic effect that far surpasses the properties of either component. However, current methods to prepare heterostructured nanoparticles mainly rely on synthesis of single-component nanoparticles followed by subsequent growth of another component, which is time- and cost- consuming. Furthermore, the functionality of heteronanostructures should be further improved by rationalizing their structures and sizes. By collaborating with National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Dr. Liu’s group demonstrates a novel ‘one-pot’ method to synthesize monodisperse Ag₂S/Ag heteronanostructures at room temperature. Thioacetamide is simultaneously used as sulfide precursors and reducing agents for generating Ag and Ag2S with Ag+ ions in solution. Notably, the synthesized Ag₂S/Ag heteronanostructures exhibit excellent photocatalytic inactivation of Escherichia coli under UV irradiation compared to Ag and Ag₂S nanoparticles with similar sizes. These Ag₂S/Ag heteronanostructures hold great promise for application in nanoscale optoelectronic and medical devices. The related results were published on ChemPhysChem, 2012, doi: 10.1002/cphc.201101013