Morphology control synthesis of Au–Cu2S metal-semiconductor hybrid nanostructures by modulating reaction constituents

Abstract

A facile methodology for synthesizing Au–Cu₂S hybrid nanoparticles is presented. Au–Cu₂S nanoparticles have application in visible light driven photocatalytic degradation of dyes. Detailed microstructural and compositional characterization illustrated that the hybrid nanoparticles are composed of cube shaped Au–Cu solid solution and hemispherical shaped Cu₂S phases. Investigation of nanoparticles extracted at different stages of the synthesis process revealed that the mechanism of formation of hybrid nanoparticles involved initial formation of isolated cube shaped pure Au nanoparticles and Cu–thiolate complex. In the subsequent stages, the Au nanoparticles get adsorbed onto the Cu–thiolate complex which is followed by the decomposition of the Cu–thiolate complex to form Au–Cu₂S hybrid nanoparticles. This study also illustrates that an optimum concentration of dodecanethiol is required both for achieving size and morphological uniformity of the participating phases and for their attachment to form a hybrid nanoparticle.