A Simple Route to Ruthenium Sulfide Nanoparticles via Thermal Decomposition of Precursor Complexes Johannes Z. Mbese 1,a* and Peter A. Ajibade 2,b 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice, 5700, South Africa 2 School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus, Scottsville 3209, South Africa a *E-mail: jmbese@ufh.ac.za, b E-mail: AjibadeP@ukzn.ac.za Keywords: Complexes, Nanoparticles, Photoluminescence, Tauc plot Abstract. The research work presented here investigate the use of homonuclear tris- dithiocarbamato ruthenium (III) complexes as single-source molecular precursors to ruthenium sulfide nanoparticles. The dithiocarbamate ligands with their respective precursor complexes were characterized by UV-Vis, FTIR, 1H- and 13C-NMR, and in addition TGA was used for precursors. The absorption spectra confirmed the geometry of tris-chelate ruthenium complexes [Ru(S 2 CNR 2 ) 3 ] to be octahedral and were very stable both in solution and in the solid state. The optical and structural properties of the ruthenium sulfide nanoparticles were examined using FTIR, XRD, EDS, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis and photoluminescence (PL). FTIR studies revealed that Ru 2 S 3 nanoparticles are capped through the interaction of the –NH 2 group of hexadecylamine (HDA) adsorbed on the surfaces of nanoparticles with the prominent band observed around 3330 cm -1 due to v(N-H). The XRD confirmed the successful formation of ruthenium sulfide nanoparticles with a cubic crystal structure within the nano-scale range. The optical band gap(Eg) determined from Tauc plot was found in the range (3.44 to 4.18 eV) values. Introduction The semiconducting nanoparticles are of great interest to many materials scientist and nanotechnologist because of their optical properties. The main optical property of semiconductor nanoparticles is the energy band gap. Nanomaterials promise to reveal the secrets behind fundamental principles of physics and chemistry and further explains why nanoscience and nanotechnology have attracted practitioners from different disciplines [1]. The technology of nanoscience has increased the understanding of the basic properties and possible applications of various nanomaterials and has stimulated interest in the study of metal sulfide nanoparticles. This has motivated a transition from the macroscopic world to microscopic, nanoscopic and molecular objects due to change of physical properties of the material itself and the change of the surface area of the objects that is called quantum size effects. This transition forms a vital aspect of the science of nanomaterials because in macroscopic materials the majority of the atoms are hidden in the bulk of the material. When materials have reduced sizes and have large surface-to-volume ratios, they possess distinctive optical, electronic, catalytic, and magnetic properties [2]. These properties become most fascinating and useful aspects of nanomaterials depend on parameters such as size, shape, surface characteristics, and other variables including doping and interaction with the surrounding environment or other nanostructures [3-5]. Single source molecular precursor method is an alternative route to oldest methods for synthesis of nanomaterials such as the hydrothermal/solvothermal process and metal-organic synthetic procedure. It prioritizes from the fact that, in single-source molecular precursor the metal-chalcogenide bond is already formed and therefore allow for the circumvention of the highly undesirable conditions and chemicals employed in the metal-organic synthesis. Various chalcogenides metal complexes of dithio/diselenocarbamates, xanthates, thioureas, and thiosemicarbazides have been successfully used as single-source precursors for the synthesis of II/VI semiconductor nanoparticles [6-14]. Ruthenium sulfide nanoparticles in particular have tremendous potential, due to their important Journal of Nano Research Submitted: 2018-06-03 ISSN: 1661-9897, Vol. 54, pp 158-171 Revised: 2018-08-15 doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/JNanoR.54.158 Accepted: 2018-08-15 © 2018 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Online: 2018-08-31 All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of Trans Tech Publications, www.scientific.net. (#109299681, Fort Hare University, South Africa-31/08/18,08:31:02)