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Hierarchically structured covellite copper sulfide (CuS) microflowers composed of nanosheets have been successfully fabricated via a one-pot sonochemical process, using copper sulfate and thiourea aqueous solution as precursors in the presence of citric acid, without any prefabricated template. Large-scaled architectures are homogeneous and quite separately displaced and assembled by pure hexagonal single-crystalline CuS nanosheets, having thickness within 20 nm. The as obtained hierarchical CuS structures possess rather high surface area and unique double pore size distributions measured from N2 adsorption isotherms. Moreover, a possible growth mechanism for the CuS hierarchical architectures is proposed on the basis of temporal evolution controlled experiments. Most importantly, these hierarchically structured CuS catalysts showed highly efficient and versatile photo-catalytic activities as well as excellent recyclability in degrading highly concentrated dye aqueous solutions of methylene blue (MB), rhodamine B (RhB) and their mixed solution (MB + RhB) with the help of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) under natural light irradiation, suggesting a promising application in wastewater purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CuS hierarchical micro structures were synthesized using solvothermal technique through mixed solvents. • Solvent play a crucial role in governing growth and determining the final morphology of the CuS architectures. • The prepared sample showed excellent efficiency towards photocatalysis applications. A variety of high-quality, shape and size consistent nanostructures of copper sulfide (CuS) in the form of hierarchical architectures composed of intersecting nano-sheets have been fabricated via mixed solvent route. Copper chloride and thiourea have been utilized as precursors for copper and sulfur sources for each experimentation in the presence of a variety of mixed solvents to obtain various morphologies of CuS. The prepared products have been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and all of the synthesized products have been investigated to be the phase pure single crystalline. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) revealed the well-ordered and isolated particles. The Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) spectrum further proved that the obtained products in all of the synthetic processes don't contain any kind of impurity. Ultraviolet– visible–near infrared (UV–vis–NIR) transmittance spectrophotometer has been utilized to ascertain the optical properties of the as prepared nanostructures. An extended U.V absorption in near-IR region, indicate the covellite phase of CuS. Most importantly, the synthesized nanostructures demonstrated an excellent photo-catalyst response in degrading highly concentrated rhodamine B (RhB) dye aqueous solutions under visible light irradiation along with an excellent reusability, suggesting a promising application in wastewater purification. The excellent photo-catalytic activity has been attributed to surface hierarchical structure with good absorbing and adsorbing properties, high visible light utilization and low electron hole recombination rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]