Powering up and cleaning up: NiS:Cu2S:Nd2S3 thin film as a supercapacitor electrode and photocatalyst

The current research describes the successful fabrication and characterization of ternary metal sulphide thin film, NiS:Cu2S:Nd2S3, by physical vapour deposition with diethyldithiocarbamate as the sulphur source. Various analytical approaches were used to evaluate the synthetic material's crystallographic, morphological, and optical properties. The ternary metal sulphide thin films possessed a crystallite size of 33.5 nm, whilst SEM imaging revealed the presence of geometrical form with tiny clustered bodies. Furthermore, XPS examination showed the existence of Nd 4d, Cu 2p, Ni 2p, and S 2p core-level peaks in the ternary metal sulphide thin films. The current study revealed that the synthesized material had a band gap energy of 3.5 eV. The material's electrochemical properties were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry, which revealed good supercapacitance performance with a specific capacitance of 412 Fg(-1). The cycle stability of the nanoparticle thin films was also found to be good, highlighting its potential as an energy storage medium. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized material was investigated, especially its capacity to breakdown a variety of contaminants such as malachite green dye, fluopyram, and phenol with a highest degradation rate constant 1.6 x 10(-2) min(-1). These findings provide compelling evidence of the potential of ternary metal sulphide thin films for a wide range of technological applications, including but not limited to energy storage and photocatalysis. [GRAPHICS]

Automated summary

The current research successfully fabricated and characterized ternary metal sulfide thin film NiS:Cu2S:Nd2S3 by physical vapor deposition method with diethyldithiocarbamate as the sulfur source. Various analytical methods were used to evaluate its crystallographic, morphological, and optical properties. This study showed that the synthesized material had a band gap energy of 3.5 eV and good electrochemical properties with a specific capacitance of 412 Fg(-1) and cycle stability. Moreover, the synthesized material exhibited high photocatalytic activity in degrading contaminants with a highest degradation rate constant of 1.6 x 10(-2) min(-1).