Facile Preparation of CuS Nanoparticles from the Interfaces of Hydrophobic Ionic Liquids and Water.

Yunchang Fan,Xiaojiang Han,Xiaojie Wu,Yingcun Li,Lina Zhang,Qiang Wang

doi:10.3390/molecules24203776

Abstract

In this work, a two-phase system composed of hydrophobic ionic liquid (IL) and water phases was introduced to prepare copper sulfide (CuS) nanoparticles. It was found that CuS particles generated from the interfaces of carboxyl-functionalized IL and sodium sulfide (Na2S) aqueous solution were prone to aggregate into nanoplates and those produced from the interfaces of carboxyl-functionalized IL and thioacetamide (TAA) aqueous solution tended to aggregate into nanospheres. Both the CuS nanoplates and nanospheres exhibited a good absorption ability for ultraviolet and visible light. Furthermore, the CuS nanoplates and nanospheres showed highly efficient photocatalytic activity in degrading rhodamine B (RhB). Compared with the reported CuS nanostructures, the CuS nanoparticles prepared in this work could degrade RhB under natural sunlight irradiation. Finally, the production of CuS from the interfaces of hydrophobic IL and water phases had the advantages of mild reaction conditions and ease of operation.

Highlights

Copper sulfide (CuS), a p-type semiconductor, has attracted tremendous interest due to its excellent optical and electronic properties
The optical band gap energy of copper sulfide sulfide (CuS) depends on its crystalline phase and is in the range of 1.48–2.89 eV, which matches the energy of ultraviolet and visible light (4.1–1.6 eV, 300–800 nm) [1,2], meaning that CuS has a strong absorption ability for ultraviolet and visible light and can be widely used in many fields, such as for the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, solar cells, optical filters, and superconductors [3,4,5]
CuS nanoparticles were prepared using a simpler route which was based on a two-phase system composed of hydrophobic ionic liquid (IL) (1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([C8 mim]NTf2 ) and 1-butyl-3-carboxymethylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([C4 C2 OOHim]NTf2 )) and water with copper(II) acetate (Cu(Ac)2 )

Summary

Introduction

Copper sulfide (CuS), a p-type semiconductor, has attracted tremendous interest due to its excellent optical and electronic properties. The photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants using CuS as a catalyst can be described by the following equations [4,5,6]: CuS + light irradiation → h+ (CuS) + e− (CuS)

Methods

Results

Conclusion