Design of a flower-like CuS nanostructure via a facile hydrothermal route

For the first time, a flower-like nanostructured CuS material was synthesised through a facile hydrothermal route using copper foil and brenstone as Cu and S sources, respectively. The obtained CuS was characterised by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The effects of the concentrations of the brenstone, reaction time, reaction temperature and NH4F additive on the morphologies of CuS nanostructures were studied in detail. It was found that morphological adjustment of the samples could be easily realised by optimising the amount of NH4F. However, the thickness of the CuS nanoplates highly depends on the combination of reaction time, reaction temperature and the concentrations of the brenstone and NH4F.