Carbon Dot-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Copper Doped Tin Disulfide Nanosheets for Optoelectronic Applications

Tin disulfide (SnS₂) has attracted extensive research attention due to its superior properties originating from its unique crystalline structure. However, its practical applications are greatly restricted by difficult morphology regulation and insufficient photoresponse capability. Herein, we successfully synthesized copper and carbon co-doped SnS₂ (Cu-C-SnS₂) nanosheets via a carbon dot-assisted hydrothermal method. The morphology, crystal structure and chemical composition of the obtained samples were characterized by FE-SEM, XRD and XPS. The experimental results reveal that the synthesized Cu-C-SnS₂ presents nanosheet morphology with a bandgap of approximately 2.445 eV. Moreover, carbon dots and copper doping can effectively regulate the morphology of SnS₂, which provides a reliable strategy for the controllable synthesis of SnS₂ nanosheets. Meanwhile, the photoelectric device based on the as-fabricated Cu-C-SnS₂ nanosheets were successfully fabricated, and exhibited favorable photoelectric response under 405 nm light irradiation.