A single precursor route to synthesize CuO and CuS nanostructures based on copper ammine and thiourea complexes

Abstract

The hydrothermal synthesis is reported of copper(II) oxide and copper(II) sulfide nanostructures with different morphologies using ammine (NH3) and thiourea (tu) complexes of copper(I) and copper(II) as the starting materials in the absence of any capping agents/surfactants. Indeed, ammine and thiourea ligands act as the sources of hydroxide and sulfur ions in the preparation of CuO and CuS nanostructures, respectively, as well as central copper ion as the Cu source. This method has the advantages of the simplicity and low cost. The synthesized products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Further, the effects of precursor concentration, temperature and reaction time on the morphology and size of the nanostructures were studied.