Abstract:
A series of crystalline nickel, cadmium, mixed metal nickel/cadmium and manganese O-n-
butylxanthate bis(pyridine) complexes , [Ni(S2COnBu)2.(C5H5N)2] (1), [Ni(S2COnBu)2.(3-Br-
C5H4N)2] (2), [Ni(S2COnBu)2.(4-CN-C5H4N)2] (3), [Ni(S2COnBu)2.(3-Me-C5H4N)2] (4)
[Ni(S2COnBu)2.(3-Cl-C5H4N)2 (5) [Cd(S2COnBu)2.(C5H5N)2] (6), [Cd(S2COnBu)2.(3-Cl-
C5H4N)2 (7) [Mn(S2COnBu)2.(C5H5N)2] (8) and [Ni/Cd(S2COnBu)2.(C5H5N)2] (9), have been
synthesized by simple chemical reaction. All the complexes were characterized by their
melting points, elemental analyses, proton NMR, thermo gravimetric analyses and their
structures were determined by single crystal X-ray analyses. Thermogravimetric analyses
show that all precursors undergo facile thermal decomposition at moderate temperature to
give NiS, CdS, Ni-CdS and MnS. These precursors were used for deposition of thin films of
metal sulphides by Aerosole Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition (AACVD). All the films
deposited from these precursors were crystalline in nature and displayed substrate dependent
morphology. Phase purity, particle size, thickness and elemental composition of thin films
were determined by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM),
energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The size of the
nanoparticles deposited from these precursors was in the range of 43-58 nm2 which was
dependent on thermal behaviour of each of the complex.
Thin films of MnS could not be deposited from precursor (8) as it was non volatile and
unsuitable for AACVD. High purity Ni-Cd mixed metal sulphide thin films were successfully
grown from single source precursor (9) for various technological applications.
