Nanostructure assembly of indium sulphide quantum dots and their characterization

Nanocrystals (approximately 5 nm) of the semiconducting wide band gap material beta-In2S3 obtained by chemical synthesis through a hydrothermal route were characterized for phase and compositional purity. These nanoparticles exhibited quantum confinement characteristics as revealed by a blue-shifted optical absorption. These quantum dots of beta-In2S3 were electrically driven from a monodisperse colloidal suspension on to conducting glass substrates by Electophoretic Deposition (EPD) technique and nanostructural thin films were obtained. The crystalline and morphological structures of these deposits were investigated by X-ray diffraction and nanoscopic techniques. We report here that certain interesting nanostructural morphologies were observed in the two-dimensional quantum dot assemblies of beta-In2S3. The effect of the controlling parameters on the cluster growth and deposit integrity was also systematically studied through a series of experiments and the results are reported here.