Open Access

ARTICLE

The Effect of Washing on the Structural, Morphological, and Compositional Properties of CuS Nanopowder Synthesis via Chemical Bath Technique

Bilal Taher^*

College of Agriculture, University of Anbar, Ramadi, Iraq

* Corresponding Author: Bilal Taher. Email:

Chalcogenide Letters 2026, 23(7), 5 https://doi.org/10.32604/cl.2026.085371

Received 10 May 2026; Accepted 20 July 2026; Issue published 07 August 2026

Abstract

Nanopowder copper sulphide CuS has been synthesised successfully via the chemical bath deposition method. Two samples of precipitated CuS nanopowder were prepared at molar concentration of 0.5 M from [CuSO₄·5H₂O and Na₂S₂O₃·5H₂O] and 0.05 M from [Na₂EDTA·2H₂O]. Both samples were annealed at 150°C for one hour in air. The effects of washing and nonwashing on the structural, morphological, and compositional properties were studied. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed that both samples have a CuS hexagonal structure with lattice constants (a = 3.773 Å , c = 16.398 Å ), and (a = 3.792 Å , c = 16.534 Å ), also the average crystallite size was found (11.4 nm, 4.5 nm) without washing and washing, respectively. Secondary phases Na₂EDTA-Cu complex impurity, CuSO₄·5H₂O and Cu₂O were showed in both samples and the intensity of peaks were reduced after washing. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analysis showed that the precipitated nanopowder has aggregated into hollow microsphere-like structures, resembling Bucky spheres, with average nanoparticle sizes of 62 nm and 58 nm for n-CuS and w-CuS, respectively. EDS analysis showed real and secondary phase values (15% and 85%) for the precipitated nanopowder without and with washing, respectively. The obtained results CuS nanopowder with high purity can be utilised in various photovoltaic applications.

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