Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2007 number 2

The mechanochemical reduction of copper sulphide (Cu₂S) and lead sulphide (PbS) with elemental Fe as well as reduction of copper sulphide (Cu₂S) with silicon are studied. Metallic Cu and Pb are obtained due to the reducing power of iron and silicon, respectively. The obtained particles are characterized by XRD, VSM, SEM and TEM methods. While for Cu₂S and PbS the reduction by iron is rather straightforward leading to Cu and Pb metals in 10-23 nm dimensions, the process of Cu₂S reduction by silicon is more intricated. In this case the overall process proceeds via complicated mechanism with several overlapping steps. Phase transformations in copper sulphide phases, the formation of elemetal nanocopper with X-ray determined particle size of 23 nm and formation of ternary sulphide Cu₈SiS₆ with anomalous surface area values are the main products of the mechanochemical reaction.