Solvothermal synthesis of aqueous CuInS2 nanocrystal inks for solar cell

This paper reports a simple scheme for aqueous synthesis of ternary CuInS2 nanocrystals with citrate as the stabilizer. It is proved that citrate can suppress the reactivity of Cu
²⁺
and prevent the formation of CuS preceding the formation of CuInS2. Water soluble high quality CuInS2 nanocrystals are synthesized by solvothermal method and characterized by XRD and SEM.