Controllable Synthesis of CuS Nanostructures from Self-Assembled Precursors with Biomolecule Assista.pdfVIP

J. Phys. Chem. C 2007, 111, 1218112187 12181 Controllable Synthesis of CuS Nanostructures from Self-Assembled Precursors with Biomolecule Assistance Benxia Li, Yi Xie,* and Yi Xue Department of Nanomaterials and Nanochemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Uni ersity of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, P. R. China Recei ed: January 31, 2007; In Final Form: May 20, 2007 In this work, taking the preparation of CuS nanomaterials as an example, the multiple roles of L-cysteine in the formation of metal sulfide nanostructures were elucidated. First, the precursors captured from the initial reaction solutions were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy, which indicated that three typical precursors with different morphologies (dispersive flakes, flake-built spherical aggregations, and solid microspheres) have formed in the three initial reaction solutions with different ratios of L-cysteine to CuCl 2H O. Then, 2 2 the as-formed precursors decomposed as self-sacrificed templates under the hydrothermal condition to produce the interesting CuS nanostructures of highly ordered nanostructures (snowflake-like patterns and flower-like microspheres) and porous hollow microspheres. The mechanisms for the formation of the precursors and their transformation