Investigation of crystalographic, morphological and photocatalytic behaviour of Ag doped CuS nanostructures

Abstract

Intrinsic and extrinsic Cu1-xAgxS (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) nanostructures (NSs) have been successfully synthesized by a facile chemical co-precipitation method in the presence of 4-methoxy-2-nitroaniline, which acts as a glazing agent. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron microscope [High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HR-TEM), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM)] studies have been carried for crystallographic and morphological analyses of synthesized NSs, while spectroscopic studies [UV–visible absorption spectroscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS)] have been carried for quantitative and qualitative analyses. Recorded diffractograms reveal that the synthesized NSs crystalizes in wurtzite (hexagonal) structure having average crystallite size values of 7.36 nm and 6.50 nm for CuS and Cu0.9Ag0.1S, respectively. On the other hand, electron micrographs recorded for the morphological analysis indicate that pristine CuS NSs have flower like morphology with petal length ranging between 30 nm–50 nm along with width ranging between 10 nm–15 nm, whereas Cu0.9Ag0.1S nanostructures have rod like morphology with length and radius varying between 25 nm–70 nm and 6 nm–8 nm, respectively. Spectroscopic studies show that highly pure synthesized NSs have broad absorption profiles in the visible range of electromagnetic spectrum which make them a potential candidate to act as visible light initiated photo-catalysts. Photo-catalytic activity potential of the synthesized NSs has been studied under visible light irradiation using methylene blue (MB) dye as the test contaminant in aqueous media. Photocatalytic activity dependence on the dopant concentration have been thoroughly studied which reveal that the 0.1% Ag doped CuS NSs have maximum degradation of the MB dye ∼75.39%, proving it to be an efficient and cost effective nanophoto-catalyst for waste water treatment.