Crystalline properties and optical processes in copper sulphide nanoparticles synthesized by chemical precipitation method

Abstract

In this study, we synthesized Copper sulphide (CuS) via chemical precipitation technique. The CuS nanoparticles were prepared using Cupric chloride and Sodium sulphide as precursors under specific conditions of rate of mixing the precursor solutions so that the growth rate was less than the nucleation rate. The powder form of particles was obtained through centrifugation, followed by annealing and grinding. For determining the morphological and compositional properties of prepared material, we recorded XRD data in the Θ − 2Θ geometry for the scan range of 20° to 80°. Analysing the XRD pattern of the prepared powder, we could identify the Covellite hexagonal phase for CuS. Further, the crystallite size in the 5–10 nm range was estimated using Scherrer relation. Moreover, the lattice parameters, crystal volume and strain were also calculated through Williamson-Hall (W-H) analysis. To examine the optical processes, the prepared particles were subjected to Ultraviolet–Visible (UV–Visible) spectroscopy. The UV–Visible spectra were measured in the absorbance range of 330–900 nm for water-suspended and alcohol-suspended CuS particle. The absorption spectra exhibit an absorption peak around 263 nm that is attributed to the blue shift owing to size quantization in nanosize CuS.