Sonochemical preparation of SbS(1-x)Se(x)I nanowires

A sonochemical method for direct preparation of nanowires of SbS(1-x)Se(x)I solid solution has been established. The SbS(1-x)Se(x)I gel was synthesized using elemental Sb, S, Se and I in the presence of ethanol under ultrasonic irradiation (35kHz, 2W/cm(2)) at 50 degrees C for 2h. The product was characterized by using techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, selected area electron diffraction, and optical diffuse reflection spectroscopy. The SEM and HRTEM investigations exhibit that the as-prepared samples are made up of large quantity nanowires with lateral dimensions of about 10-50nm and lengths reaching up to several micrometers and single-crystalline in nature. The increase of molar composition of Se affects linear decrease of the indirect forbidden optical energy gap as well as the distance between (121) planes of the SbS(1-x)Se(x)I nanowires.