Copper-doped semiconductors are designed to photoassist the alkyne-azide cycloaddition catalysis by Cu(I). Upon irradiation, injection of electrons from the semiconductor into copper oxide nanostructures produces the catalytic Cu(I) species. The new catalysts are air- and moisture-tolerant and can be readily recovered after use and reused several times.
We develop a facile method for preparing copper nanoparticles and patterned surfaces with copper stripes by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of a mixture solution containing a photoinitiator and a copper-amine coordination compound. The copper-amine compound is formed by adding diethanol amine to an ethanol solution of copper chloride. Under UV irradiation, free radicals are generated by photoinitiator decomposition. Meanwhile, the copper-amine coordination compound is rapidly reduced to copper particles because the formation of the copper-amine coordination compound prevents the production of insoluble cuprous chloride. Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) is used as a capping agent to prevent the aggregation of the as-prepared copper nanoparticles. The capping agent increases the dispersion of copper nanoparticles in the ethanol solution and affects their size and morphology. Increasing the concentration of the copper-amine coordination compound to 0.1 M directly forms a patterned surface with copper stripes on the transparent substrate. This patterned surface is formed through the combination of the heterogeneous nucleation of copper nanoparticles and photolithography. We also investigate the mechanism of photoreduction by UV-vis spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.