Selective Synthesis of 2D Mesoporous CuO Agglomerates by Pulsed Spark Discharge in Water
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Selective Synthesis of 2D Mesoporous CuO Agglomerates by Pulsed Spark Discharge in Water Ahmad Hamdan1 · Marta Agati2 · Simona Boninelli2 Received: 31 May 2020 / Accepted: 27 August 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Metal oxide nanomaterials, including copper oxide, have attracted great attention due to their unique physical and chemical properties that are dependent on particle size and morphology. In this study, we propose an alternative technique for the synthesis of 2D mesoporous CuO agglomerates that is both efficient and ecological. This technique is based on the use of pulsed spark discharges between copper electrodes immersed in deionized water. Detailed TEM analyses show that the synthesized CuO nanostructures are composed of elementary nanocrystals with sizes in the order of a few nanometers. Assessments of the effects of applied voltage (5 and 20 kV) and discharge pulse width (100 and 500 ns) demonstrate that the latter parameter influences the size and density of nanocrystals in a nanostructure. Moreover, voltage and pulse width may both be used to finely control the direct optical band gap energy of CuO nanostructures between 3.0 and 3.4 eV. The efficient and ecological technique developed in this study produces 2D mesoporous CuO agglomerates that can be readily used in other processes. Keywords CuO · Nanosecond discharge · Transmission electron microscopy
Introduction Metal oxide nanomaterials are widely used in various applications [1–5] due to their multiple optical, electrical, magnetic, thermal, photoelectrochemical, mechanical, and catalytic properties [6, 7]. For example, metal oxides have strong antibacterial activity and are considered good supports for heterogeneous catalysts. Moreover, they exhibit outstanding electrochemical performances in lithium-ion batteries [8–10]. Considering their abundance and non-toxic nature, copper-based oxides, including cuprite (Cu2O), * Ahmad Hamdan [email protected] * Marta Agati [email protected] 1
Groupe de Physique des Plasmas, Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, 1375 Avenue Thérèse‑Lavoie‑Roux, Montréal, QC H2V 0B3, Canada
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Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per la Microelettronica e i Microsistemi (CNR-IMM), Strada VIII n.5, 95121 Catania, Italy
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Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing
tenorite (CuO), and paramelaconite (Cu4O3), are particularly interesting. Cu2O and CuO are among the first known semiconductors, and today, they are used to study exciton physics and nonlinear optical properties [11–13]. As for C u4O3, it is a metastable mixed-valence intermediate compound between C u2O and CuO [13, 14], and it is suitable for use in photodetectors operating at visible wavelengths. Over the past two decades, different dry and wet processes have been proposed for the synthesis of copper oxides. The oldest and most known dry technique is based on thermal oxidation, i.e. the annealing of copper in an oxygenated environment [15–19].
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