Formation and Morphology of Colloidal Chitosan-Stabilized Copper Sulfides

The reactions of copper (ii) acetate with thiourea, with or without chitosan, are described. the products obtained are cus and cu2s in an approximate composition of 1:1. uv-vis, raman and ftir spectroscopy as well as edx analysis confirmed these copper sulfides. the effects of chitosan on the morphology of the copper sulfides were studied via tem and sem microscopy. in the absence of chitosan, fractal morphology was observed (d value 1.74). in the presence of chitosan, colloidal copper sulfides were obtained. for the colloid, an increase in chitosan concentration resulted in smaller copper sulfides particle size i.e. decreasing from 118.8 to 76.6 nm. a plausible mechanism of the copper sulfides formation via the involvement of ethanoate ions is also described