One-pot hydrothermal synthesis of CdS decorated CuS microflower-like structures for enhanced photocatalytic properties

Abstract

CdS decorated CuS structures have been controllably synthesized through a one-pot hydrothermal method. The morphologies and compositions of the as-prepared samples could be concurrently well controlled by simply tuning the amount of CdCl2 and thiourea. Using this strategy, the morphology of the products experienced from messy to flower-like morphologies with multiple porous densities, together with the phase evolution from pure CuS to the CdS/CuS composites. Serving as a photocatalyst, the samples synthesized with the addition of 1 mmol cadmium chloride and 3 mmol thiourea during synthetic process, showed the best photocatalytic activity, which could reach a maximum photocatalytic efficiency of 93% for methyl orange (MO) photodegradation after 150 min. The possible mechanism for the high photocatalytic efficiency of the sample was proposed by investigating the composition, surface area, structure, and morphology before and after photocatalytic reaction.

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].…”

TiO2/rGO/CuS Nanocomposites for Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Rhodamine‐B Dye

“…The room temperature phases are covellite (CuS), anilite (Cu 1.75 S), digenite (Cu 1.8 S), djurlite (Cu 1.95 S) and chalcocite (Cu 2 S) . Among all these CuS exhibits excellent optoelectronic properties and finds applications in solar cells, optical filters, photocatalytic activity and energy storage devices . Incorporation of CuS to TiO 2 broadens the optical absorption region and hence can be used as an effective photocatalyst in the degradation of chemical effluents in the water.…”

Amorphous NaVOPO 4 as a High-Rate and Ultrastable Cathode Material for Sodium-Ion Batteries

“…The formation of the microflower structure may be due to Ostwald's ripening process. 30,31 For comparison, the graphene-free amorphous NaVOPO 4 (designated as a-NVOP) microflowers were prepared via a similar method by replacing the graphene oxide solution with deionized water.…”