In the present communication, the self-assembly of nanocrystalline PbS at the liquid-liquid interface is reported. The PbS nanocrystals were, subsequently, transformed in the form of thin films by dip coating. The resultant Q-PbS films were characterized by SEM-EDAX, TEM-SAED, XRD, XPS and UV-vis Spectroscopy. Pyramidal features at the nanometer scale, preferred orientation along (2 2 0) and (4 0 0) planes of cubic structure and a sharp excitonic peak at 656 run are the salient aspects of this work. The band-gap of the order of 1.8 eV (associated with the excitonic feature) is ideally suited for solar photovoltaic applications. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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