Morphology Control in the Hydrothermal Synthesis of FeS Nanoplatelets

FeS nanoplatelets were synthesized using a surfactant-assisted hydrothermal synthesis. The product is highly crystalline and has a preferred growth direction with a [001] plate normal. The platelet diagonal, thickness, and shape can be controlled by varying the iron starting material or the surfactant employed in the synthesis. The diagonal and thickness of the nanoplatelets were found to reduce by factors of up to 22 and 8x, respectively, when an Fe(II)-containing iron source.rather than Fe(III)-was employed in the synthesis. Specific combinations of the surfactant and the iron source were seen to determine the platelet shape, resulting in rectangular, polygonal, and shard-like shapes.