Preparation of Cu₄SnS₄ /CuCo₂S₄ nanoparticles using combustion reaction accelerated by organic driving agents under microwave irradiation

Copper based sulfide-rich nanomaterials have recently attracted attentions in various applications due to inexpensive, abundance and non-toxicity of their constituent elements. Cu₄SnS₄ and CuCo₂S₄ as the members of this family have exhibited good capability with a stable manner in solar cells, energy storage electrodes, batteries, etc. In this work, through a facile and rapid combustion reaction accelerated by microwave irradiation, Cu₄SnS₄/CuCo₂S₄ nanoparticles was prepared. Thiourea was used as a sulphur source and also organic driving agent. The features of the synthesized product were studied using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersion of x-ray spectrometry (EDX) techniques. The FT-IR and XRD results showed the formation of a multi-components structure containing orthorhombic crystal phase of Cu₄SnS₄ alongside carrollite CuCo₂S₄ phase. Some electrochemical properties of the as-prepared nanomaterial was investigated by performing cyclic voltammetry (CV) tests in different electrolytes.