Influence of reaction conditions for the fabrication of Cu2SnS3 and Cu3SnS4 in ethylene glycol

Cubic Cu2SnS3 and tetragonal Cu3SnS4 have been synthesized successfully using thiourea complexes of copper and tin in ethylene glycol by a simple change in the mode of mixing the reactants. While cubic Cu2SnS3 resulted from one-pot synthesis, mixing the colloids of copper and tin in ethylene glycol yielded tetragonal Cu3SnS4. The phases were characterized by high resolution powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD), UV–vis, Raman spectroscopy, SEM-EDX, HR-TEM and SAED measurements. Optical band gap of 0.92 eV (for Cu2SnS3) and 1.35 eV (for Cu3SnS4) were deduced from UV–vis spectroscopy data.