Recent advances in copper sulphide-based nanoheterostructures

Due to the high mobility of copper ions in numerous structurally-related phases, copper sulphide (Cu2-xS, 0 <= x <= 1) has been widely used as a starting template to fabricate various heterostructures via cation exchange. Such nanoheterostructures can possess unique combinations of physical properties that could be useful in diverse applications. Controllable methods of fabricating copper sulphide nanoheterostructures of increasing complexity have been rapidly emerging over the past few years. In this tutorial review, we discuss recent progress in heterostructure fabrication methods using copper sulphide. We primarily focus on important reports of cation exchange-based approaches and then summarize some key emerging applications that can employ these copper-sulphide-based nanoheterostructures.