Ionic liquid-assisted synthesis of hierarchical CuS nanostructures at room temperature

Abstract

At room temperature, hierarchical copper sulfide (CuS) nanoparticles were successfully fabricated through an ionic liquid-assisted route employing CuCl 2 and thioacetamide (TAA) as the starting materials. In the presence of ionic liquid 1- n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM]BF 4), in situ formed Cu(I)-complex as the precursor could easily dissociate to the CuS species at so low temperature. The product was characterized by means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was found that the hierarchical CuS nanoparticles were of 250–300 nm in size and well-constructed by numerous nanoflakes with a thickness less than 10 nm. In this paper, an ecologically and environmentally friendly preparation route for CuS nanostructures was proposed.