Germanium Sulfide (GeS) Powder and Crystals

Germanium sulfide (GeS), CAS number 12025-32-0, is a group IV layered monochalcogenide with a similar atomic puckered structure to black phosphorus (BP) and a bandgap in the visible region (1.65 – 1.8 eV). Like BP, it has anisotropic optical properties, with low energy optical excitations along the armchair and zigzag directions. The anisotropic crystal structure of GeS gives rise to anisotropy in the optoelectronic properties, such as polarized optical absorption, photoconductivity. 

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High purity Germanium Sulfide ≥99.995% powder

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Low price Germanium Sulfide

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Available in powder and crystals

With a bandgap of 1.65 eV, GeS as a layered semiconductors with a distorted rock-salt orthorhombic structure and a p-type semiconductor, is considered to be a promising photovoltaic material for high-efficiency solar cell and photodetectors with high sensitivity and external quantum efficiency. Nanoparticles, nanosheets, nanoflowers and nanowires of GeS with unique structures and physical properties have been developed for different applications.

Germanium selenide (GeSe) Powder from Ossila was used in the high-impact paper (IF 11.19), γ-GeSe: A New Hexagonal Polymorph from Group IV–VI Monochalcogenides, S. Lee et al., Nano Lett. 21, 4305–4313 (2021); DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c00714.

Also with an indirect band gap of 2.34 eV which can be further fine tuned by external strain, GeS monolayer is semiconducting and its monolayer has an electron mobility of 3,680 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, much higher than that of MoS₂ monolayer. GeS monolayers have been mostly been fabricated by mechanical and chemical exfoliations from bulk crystals or high-purity powders. Structurally pristine with minimal chemical degradation sub-10 nm thick GeS nanosheets can be achieved with liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE) in anhydrous N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP).

We supply low price Germanium sulfide in several different forms for a range of applications.

Germanium Sulfide Powder

Can be used for preparation of germanium sulfide nanoplates and ultrathin films

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≥99.995% purity

From £220

Germanium Sulfide Crystals by Size

Can be used to produce single or few-layer germanium sulfide sheets via mechanical or liquid exfoliation

Small (≥10 mm²) or medium (≥25 mm²) crystals available*

≥99.999% purity

From £520

*Typical representative size, areas/dimensions may vary

Bulk single Germanium sulfide crystal is most commonly used as sources from which single or few-layer sheets can be obtained via either mechanical or liquid exfoliation. 

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High purity germanium sulfide powder can also be used to prepare GeS nanosheets and nanoparticles by liquid-exfoliation (normally assisted by sonication). 

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• High purity, low price germanium sulfide
• Available as a powder or as individual crystals
• Can be used to produce single or few-layer sheets
• Free worldwide shipping on qualifying orders

Structure of Germanium Sulfide

Germanium sulfide (GeS) belongs to the Group IV layered metal mono-chalcogenides. It is a layered material with structure analogous to that of black phosphorus. GeS crystallizes in a layered structure of distorted orthorhombic symmetry of space group Pcmn - D_2h¹⁶. Bulk GeS has a unique structural characteristic with a puckered configuration along the x (armchair) direction and a bilayer structure along the y (zigzag) direction. Each of the monolayers stack along the z-axis and the unit cell comprises two adjacent double layers. 

GeS orthorhombic form (also called α-GeS) has been proven to be dynamically and thermally stable at room temperature.

Properties of Germanium Sulfide

After exfoliation of crystals or powder, germanium sulfide typically has the following properties:

• Group IV layered metal mono-chalcogenides
• Puckered layer structure similar to that of black phosphorus.
• Orthorhombic crystal structure (Space group Pcmn - D_2h¹⁶)
• Bulk GeS has a bandgap of 1.65 eV and indirect band gap of 2.34 eV in its monolayer form.
  
• GeS monolayer has an electron mobility of 3,680 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, much higher than that of MoS₂.
• GeS is relatively inexpensive and non-toxic.

Germanium Sulfide Applications

With its advantages of high chemical and environmental stability, low cost, earth abundant and environmentally friendly elements, 2D layered germanium sulfide is a promising candidate for solar cells, photodetectors, gas sensors, batteries and light-emitting diodes applications. 2D GeS nanosheets, nanoparticles, nanoflowers and nanowires can be obtained from our high purity powder and crystals by either mechanical or liquid exfoliation or intercalation.

With its ideal bandgap and high absorption coefficient, GeS is a good candidate for absorbing solar energy in application of solar cells. Compared with other semiconductors for the application of photovoltaic solar cells, GeS is relatively lower toxic and inexpensive and environmentally benign. Together with GeSe and other IV/VI semiconductor materials, 2D GeS nanosheets and nanoribbons with layered structures have great potential in electronic and opto-electronics applications, i.e.  as photo-absorbers for use in solar energy conversion, telecommunications, computing, and as visible light photodetectors with high sensitivity and broad spectral response.

2D GeS nanoparticles produced by intercalation with lithium or sodium ions have demonstrated excellent cycling performance for Li-ion or Na-ion batteries applications. With extremely thin petals with an enormous surface area, GeS nanoflowers lead to increased capacity for supercapacitors and energy storage devices. 1D GeS nanowires find their application in light-emitting diodes and 2D GeS nanosheets and have also been used for gas detectors and carbon dioxide reduction. 

Processing Germanium Sulfide

Viscoelastic transfer using PDMS

Literature and Reviews

• Ultrahigh drive current and large selectivity in GeS selector, S. Jia et al., Nat . Commun., 11, 4636 (2020); DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18382-z.
• Polarized Band-Edge Emission and Dichroic Optical Behavior in Thin Multilayer GeS, C-H. Ho et al., dv. Optical Mater., 5, 1600814 (2017); DOI: 10.1002/adom.20160081.
• Anisotropic optical and electronic properties of two dimensional layered germanium sulfide, D.Tan et al., Nano Res. 10, 546–555 (2017); DOI: 10.1007/s12274-016-1312-6.
• Noncollinear ferrielectricity and morphotropic phase boundary in GeS monolayer, S. Song et al., Phys. Rev. B 103, L140104 (2021); DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.103.L140104.
• Role of Boundary Layer Diffusion in Vapor Deposition Growth of Chalcogenide Nanosheets: The Case of GeS, C. Li et al., ACS Nano, 6, 10, 8868–8877 (2012); DOI: 10.1021/nn303745e.
• Anhydrous Liquid-Phase Exfoliation of Pristine Electrochemically-Active GeS Nanosheets, D. Lam et al., Chem. Mater., 30, 7, 2245–225 (2018); DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b04652.
• 1D Wires of 2D Layered Materials: Germanium Sulfide Nanowires as Efficient Light Emitters, E. Sutter et al., ACS Appl. Nano Mater., 1 (3), 1042–1049 (2018); DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.7b00053.
• Enhanced Shift Currents in Monolayer 2D GeS and SnS by StrainInduced Band Gap Engineering, N. Kaner et al., ACS Omega, 5, 17207−17214 (2020); DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c01319.
• Single-crystalline GeS nanoribbons for high sensitivity visible-light photodetectors, C. Lan et al., J. Mater. Chem. C, 3, 8074-8079 (2015); DOI: 10.1039/C5TC01435B.
• Solution synthesis of GeS and GeSe nanosheets for highsensitivity photodetectors, P. Ramasamy et al., J. Mater. Chem. C, 4, 479-485 (2016); DOI: 10.1039/C5TC03667D.
• Effect of tensile strain on the band structure and carrier transport of germanium monosulphide monolayer: a first-principles study, G. Guo et al., Micro & Nano Lett., 13, 600-605 (2018); DOI: 10.1049/mnl.2017.0733.
• High photosensitivity and broad spectral response of multilayered germanium sulfide transistors, R. Ulaganathan et al., Nanoscale, 8, 2284-2292 (2016); DOI: 10.1039/C5NR05988G.
• Ultrafast pulse generation based on the 2D analogue of black phosphorus—GeS, Y. Shi et al., OSA Continuum 3, 658-667 (2020); DOI: 10.1364/OSAC.384646..