The current research describes the successful fabrication and characterization of ternary metal sulphide thin film, NiS:Cu₂S:Nd₂S₃, by physical vapour deposition with diethyldithiocarbamate as the sulphur source. Various analytical approaches were used to evaluate the synthetic material’s crystallographic, morphological, and optical properties. The ternary metal sulphide thin films possessed a crystallite size of 33.5 nm, whilst SEM imaging revealed the presence of geometrical form with tiny clustered bodies. Furthermore, XPS examination showed the existence of Nd 4d, Cu 2p, Ni 2p, and S 2p core-level peaks in the ternary metal sulphide thin films. The current study revealed that the synthesized material had a band gap energy of 3.5 eV. The material’s electrochemical properties were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry, which revealed good supercapacitance performance with a specific capacitance of 412 Fg⁻¹. The cycle stability of the nanoparticle thin films was also found to be good, highlighting its potential as an energy storage medium. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized material was investigated, especially its capacity to breakdown a variety of contaminants such as malachite green dye, fluopyram, and phenol with a highest degradation rate constant 1.6 × 10⁻² min⁻¹. These findings provide compelling evidence of the potential of ternary metal sulphide thin films for a wide range of technological applications, including but not limited to energy storage and photocatalysis.

Graphical abstract

中文翻译：

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通电和清理：NiS:Cu2S:Nd2S3 薄膜作为超级电容器电极和光催化剂

目前的研究描述了三元金属硫化物薄膜 NiS:Cu ₂ S:Nd ₂ S _{3的成功制造和表征}，以二乙基二硫代氨基甲酸酯为硫源，采用物理气相沉积法。使用各种分析方法来评估合成材料的晶体学、形态和光学性质。三元金属硫化物薄膜的微晶尺寸为 33.5 nm，而 SEM 成像显示存在具有微小簇状体的几何形状。此外，XPS检查显示三元金属硫化物薄膜中存在Nd 4d、Cu 2p、Ni 2p和S 2p核级峰。目前的研究表明，合成材料的带隙能为3.5 eV。使用循环伏安法评估该材料的电化学性能，显示出良好的超级电容性能，比电容为412 Fg ^-1。纳米粒子薄膜的循环稳定性也很好，凸显了其作为储能介质的潜力。此外，还研究了合成材料的光催化活性，特别是其分解孔雀石绿染料、氟吡菌酰胺和苯酚等多种污染物的能力，最高降解速率常数为1.6 × 10 ^-2  min ^-1。这些发现提供了令人信服的证据，证明三元金属硫化物薄膜在广泛的技术应用中的潜力，包括但不限于能量存储和光催化。

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