Starting materials: SnCl2·2H2O, HI, H3PO2, histamine dihydrochloride
Product: Black plate-like crystals
Description: SnCl2·2H2O was dissolved in a solution with HI and H3PO2 and heated while stirring for 20 minutes at 120 degrees Celsius. The solution became bright yellow. Histamine dihydrochloride was then dissolved into another HI solution and also heated (1:1 molar ratio to Sn). Then the latter solution was carefully layered on top of the PbI2 solution and dark orange crystals precipitated upon cooling.
Method: Diffuse Reflectance Spectra
Description: A Shimadzu UV-3600 UV-vis NIR spectrometer was used to measure optical diffuse reflectance at room temperature. BaSO4 was used as the 100% reflectance reference. Reflectance vs wavelength was used to get the absorption spectrum via the Kubelka-Munk equation, which was then used to extrapolate the optical band gaps.