Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Porous Aggregates of CuS Nanoparticles for Sunlight Photocatalysis

Abstract

Solvated two-dimensional nanosheets of copper hydroxy dodecylsulfate in 1-butanol react with thiourea under microwave irradiation to yield surfactant-free porous aggregates of CuS nanoparticles. These aggregates exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity toward degradation of methylene blue, methyl orange, and 4-chlorophenol in natural sunlight. While the high surface area (14.74 m 2 g –1 ) and porosity increase the active reaction centers for adsorption and degradation of organic molecules, quantum confinement results in a low recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes. Chemical and photogenerated hydroxyl radicals cause the oxidation of the dyes and 4-chlorophenol.

Ultrasmall aqueous starch-capped CuS quantum dots with tunable localized surface plasmon resonance and composition for the selective and sensitive detection of mercury(ii) ions

“…Over the past few years, researchers have fabricated zerodimensional (0D), one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) CuS NSs, such as nanodots, 21 nanocrystals, 8 thin lms, 22 nanotubes, 23 nanoplates, 24 nanosheets, 25 etc. These CuS NSs have been exploited for potential applications such as bioimaging, 26 photocatalysis, 27 nanoelectronics, 28 and theranostics. 29 Currently, there are various methodologies to fabricate CuS NSs, such as sonoelectrochemical, 30 hydrothermal, 30 solventless thermolysis, 30 mechanochemical, 31 microwave, 32 hot-injection, 14 and cationexchange reaction 33 methods.…”

Electrochemical Fingerprint of CuS-Hexagonal Chemistry from (Bis(N-1,4-Phenyl-N-(4-Morpholinedithiocarbamato) Copper(II) Complexes) as Photon Absorber in Quantum-Dot/Dye-Sensitised Solar Cells

“…Copper monosulfide (CuS) has distinguished itself among metal sulfides owing to its different band gap and various morphologies. This makes CuS a hot-spot semiconductor material with great potential in the field of photocatalytic and photovoltaic applications [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Hexagonal covellite-CuS with a bandgap of ∼2 eV and a p-type-enhances absorber abilities to cover the entire solar spectrum [18,19].…”

“…Hexagonal covellite-CuS with a bandgap of ∼2 eV and a p-type-enhances absorber abilities to cover the entire solar spectrum [18,19]. Furthermore, CuS absorbs the infrared area through plasmonic absorption emanating from copper valencies due to a high concentration of charge carriers [20,26,27]. Integration of CuS with TiO 2 can enhance photon-absorption properties to visible regions, leading to better conversion efficiency.…”

Facile Preparation of CuS Nanoparticles from the Interfaces of Hydrophobic Ionic Liquids and Water

“…The optical band gap energy of CuS depends on its crystalline phase and is in the range of 1.48–2.89 eV, which matches the energy of ultraviolet and visible light (4.1–1.6 eV, 300–800 nm) [1,2], meaning that CuS has a strong absorption ability for ultraviolet and visible light and can be widely used in many fields, such as for the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, solar cells, optical filters, and superconductors [3,4,5]. In the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, CuS is a Fenton-like catalyst, a type of catalyst that effectively decomposes a wide range of organic pollutants in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) with light [4,5]. Like other Fenton-like catalysts, CuS catalyzes the decomposition of H 2 O 2 to generate a large number of hydroxyl radicals ( • OH) and superoxide ions ( • O 2 − ) under light irradiation.…”