Facile hydrothermal synthesis of Bi2S3 spheres and CuS/Bi2S3 composites nanostructures with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performances

The urchin-like Bi2S3 spheres and CuS/Bi2S3 composite nanowires have been fabricated through a soft chemical route without the assistance of any templates or surfactants. The resulting samples are characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The results demonstrate that the morphology, optical and magnetic properties of products exhibit remarkable change owing to copper modification of Bi2S3 nanostructures. Furthermore, the CuS/Bi2S3 nanostructures display high visible light photoactivities, which can be attributed to the combined effect of copper modification of Bi2S3.