Shape-Controlled Synthesis of High-Quality Cu₇S₄Nanocrystals for Efficient Light-Induced Water Evaporation

Abstract

Copper sulfides (Cu S), are a novel kind of photothermal material exhibiting significant photothermal conversion efficiency, making them very attractive in various energy conversion related devices. Preparing high quality uniform Cu S nanocrystals (NCs) is a top priority for further energy-and sustainability relevant nanodevices. Here, a shape-controlled high quality Cu S NCs synthesis strategy is reported using sulfur in 1-octadecene as precursor by varying the heating temperature, as well as its forming mechanism. The performance of the Cu S NCs is further explored for light-driven water evaporation without the need of heating the bulk liquid to the boiling point, and the results suggest that as-synthesized highly monodisperse NCs perform higher evaporation rate than polydisperse NCs under the identical morphology. Furthermore, disk-like NCs exhibit higher water evaporation rate than spherical NCs. The water evaporation rate can be further enhanced by assembling the organic phase Cu S NCs into a dense film on the aqueous solution surface. The maximum photothermal conversion efficiency is as high as 77.1%.

Plasmonic doped semiconductor nanocrystals: Properties, fabrication, applications and perspectives

“…Initial steps to other potential directions employing degenerately doped semiconductor NCs have already been taken, such as their use as piezoelectric sensors [366], for enhanced microwave absorption [367], for efficient light-induced water evaporation [368], as photothermal fungicide agents for sunlight driven disinfection [369], as non-linear optical materials operating in the telecommunication region [370][371][372], or for the study of artificial polariton bandgaps at infrared frequencies [373]. Many applications exploiting the new properties of these materials are still at a very early stage and demand for further systematic development.…”

Emerging investigator series: the rise of nano-enabled photothermal materials for water evaporation and clean water production by sunlight

“…24 Synthesis of hierarchical graphdiyne-based architecture was reported in 2017 for solar thermal evaporation. 85 In 2016, the assembled Cu 7 S 4 nanocrystal dense film, 86 and in 2017, porous floating copper phosphate combined with PDMS 87 were separately reported as photothermal materials for solardriven water evaporation.…”

Research progress on novel solar steam generation system based on black nanomaterials

“…Single‐layer structures mainly focus on hollow carbon breads, porous graphene sheets, graphene composite aerogels, black polyurethane sponges, Cu 7 S 4 , black titanium, carbon sponges, and polypropylene film . These single‐layer structures can be further summarized into the following two types: one contains suspended particles (Figure a); and the other possesses suspended pore structures (Figure b).…”