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Semiconductor-semiconductor heterostructured nanorods have attracted great research interests owing to their potential applications in many fields, such as photovoltaic devices, highperformance catalysis, and new-generation optoelectronic devices. Herein, we report the synthesis of flame-head matchstick-like CuInS2-ZnS heterostructured nanorods by using ball-head matchstick-like seeds nanorods with Cu1.94S-ZnS heterostructure. The intrinsic Cu ions deficiencies formed at high temperature made the Cu1.94S "ball" a good matrix for absorbing indium ions and subsequent phase transition into CuInS2 "flame". For the changes in morphology attributed to intrinsic crystal orientation, match heads deformed firstly form ball-like into egg-like with structural transition from monoclinic Cu1.94S into hexagonal Cu2S structure, and then grew towards their [001] axial direction, finally leading to flame-like head composed of wurtzite CuInS2 via a gradually tapered process of one tip. Crystallographic analysis suggests that the wurtzite ZnS "stick" heterogeneous combines with CuInS2 "flame" by the overlap of their [001] direction, which contribute to the wider of the band gap of the heterostructured nanorods. The as-synthesized CuInS2-ZnS heterostructured nanorods were developed as counter electrodes for high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells, exhibiting higher efficiency than not only CuInS2 nanocrystals but also Pt. As such, CuInS2-ZnS Heterostructured Nanorods represent a novel type of nanomaterials for the next generation of high-efficient photovoltaics. |
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