this work was supported by the vanderbilt institute of nanoscale science and engineering and doe grant # de - fg02 - 02er45957 .
sns nanocrystals ( ncs ) were synthesized from bis(diethyldithiocarbamato ) tin(ii ) in oleylamine at elevated temperature . 
 high - resolution transmission electron microscopy ( hrtem ) investigation and x - ray diffraction ( xrd ) analysis showed that the synthesized sns particles are monocrystalline with an orthorhombic structure . the shape and size tunability of sns ncs 
 can be achieved by controlling the reaction temperature and time , and the nature of the stabilizing ligands . 
 the comparison between experimental optical band gap values shows evidence of quantum confinement of sns ncs . 
 prepared sns ncs display strong absorption in the visible and near - infrared ( nir ) spectral regions making them promising candidates for solar cell energy conversion .