Design of a flower-like CuS nanostructure via a facile hydrothermal route

Abstract

For the first time, a flower-like nanostructured CuS material was synthesised through a facile hydrothermal route using copper foil and brenstone as Cu and S sources, respectively. The obtained CuS was characterised by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The effects of the concentrations of the brenstone, reaction time, reaction temperature and NH₄F additive on the morphologies of CuS nanostructures were studied in detail. It was found that morphological adjustment of the samples could be easily realised by optimising the amount of NH₄F. However, the thickness of the CuS nanoplates highly depends on the combination of reaction time, reaction temperature and the concentrations of the brenstone and NH₄F.

Keywords:

• CuS
• NH₄F
• hydrothermal method
• flower-like structure