Handbook of Selected Semiconductor Material & Characterizations

Bismuthinite, traditionally known as bismuth glance, is Bismuth sulfide, having orthorhombic crystal structure. Recently, the synthesis of metal chalcogenides group has been the focus of attention because of their important physical and chemical properties. Bismuth sulfide is a typical lamellar structured semiconductor with a bulk direct band gap. Bismuth sulfide nanostructures, such as nanoparticles, nanowires, nanotubes, nanorods, nanofibers, have been synthesized. The attraction of this research field is the numerous special structural, morphological, optical, electrical and thermo-electric properties of the nanomaterials compared to bulk materials. The main reasons for these special properties are the extremely large surface to volume ratio of the nanostructures, as well as the quantum confinement effect. It has been the focus of attention, because of its unique physical and chemical properties and various technological applications such as in electrochemical hydrogen storage, hydrogen sensors, X-ray computed tomography imaging, optical switches, bimolecular detection, nanodevices and as photo-responsive materials.