Controlled Synthesis of Hierarchical Flower-Like CuS Spheres by a Facile Microwave Hydrothermal Method

Abstract

–Hierarchical flower–like CuS spheres have been synthesized by a facile microwave hydrothermal (MH) method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the surfactant. The as–prepared CuS crystallites under different CTAB contents were characterized by X–ray diffraction (XRD), field–emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). Results show that the CTAB–assisted CuS particles have hierarchical flower–like microstructures that were assembled by thin nanoflakes with thickness of 10~20 nm. The corresponding HRTEM images reveal that these nanoflakes are composed of many nanoparticles with average size of about 7 nm. Moreover, when increasing the CTAB contents from 0 g⁄mL to 0.02 g⁄mL, the as–prepared CuS particles were found to have better dispersion stability with decreased average sizes of the hierarchical flower–like spheres. Comparing with the bulk CuS particles, the related UV–vis absorption spectrum of the as–prepared crystallites exhibits an obvious red shift with the absorption peak at 739 nm.