A highly regular hexapod structure of lead sulfide: solution synthesis and Raman spectroscopy

A highly regular hexapod-like structure of PbS with six symmetric arms has been synthesized by a simple and mild chemical solution route. The hexapod-like PbS structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM). The results show that each arm is perpendicular to the other four, and opposite to the last one. The arms are about 0.3-0.6 microm long, which have about 40-60 nm tips and 150-200 nm base. And the arm shows an icicle-like structure and some clear steps, and grows along 100 directions. The most possible growth mechanism discussed herein is based on the characterization results. The Raman spectra of the hexapod-like PbS structure were investigated. The results show that our products are sensitive to the laser and can be photodegraded easily.