Hydrothermally Engineered Covellite (CuS) Nanoplates with Superior Chemocatalytic and Photocatalytic Responses

Abstract

CuS (covellite) nanoplates exhibiting excellent catalytic performance were synthesized via a hydrothermal method using copper chloride and thiourea as precursors. Comprehensive characterization through XRD with Rietveld refinement, HRTEM, FESEM, EDS, FTIR, Raman, UV–Vis spectroscopy, and BET analyses confirmed the formation of hexagonal-phase CuS with a plate-like morphology, an average crystallite size of 18 nm, a mesoporous structure, and a band gap of 1.85 eV. The catalytic activity of the CuS nanoplates toward the degradation of methyl orange (MO), a common organic pollutant, demonstrated remarkable efficiency, achieving 81.9% degradation within 12 min under chemocatalytic conditions and 82.1% within 40 min under photocatalytic conditions. This study presents an eco-friendly and highly effective dual catalytic strategy for the removal of organic dye contaminants using CuS-based nanocatalysts.