Controlled Synthesis of Nanomaterials at the Undergraduate Laboratory: Cu(OH)₂ and CuO Nanowires

Abstract

Undergraduate-level laboratory experiments that involve the synthesis of nanomaterials with well-defined/controlled shapes are very attractive under the umbrella of nanotechnology education. Herein we describe a low-cost and facile experiment for the synthesis of Cu­(OH)2 and CuO nanowires comprising three main parts: (i) synthesis of Cu­(OH)2 nanowires by a precipitation approach followed by a calcination step that converts Cu­(OH)2 to CuO; (ii) use of Cu­(OH)2 and CuO nanowires as model systems to explore a variety of characterization techniques relevant in the context of solid-state chemistry, materials chemistry, and nanoscience; and (iii) presentation/discussion of the data. Other learning objectives include probing of chemical transformations at the nanoscale and the use of concepts borrowed from coordination chemistry to understand the formation mechanism of Cu­(OH)2 and CuO nanowires from a Cu2+(aq) precursor. This experiment can be performed with a relatively simple laboratory infrastructure and with instrumentation that is generally widely available. Moreover, students are able to integrate multidisciplinary concepts in a single activity and become introduced to/familiarized with a currently active research field (nanoscience) and its associated literature.

Chemical and Morphological Evolution of Copper Nanoparticles Obtained by Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid

“…Therefore, rapid consecutive oxidation of Cu to Cu 2 O in the cavitation bubbles and then Cu 2 O to Cu­(OH) 2 in the cavitation bubbles or in the suspension after collapsing of the cavitation bubble is assumed to proceed during the ablation (Figure c). The formed Cu­(OH) 2 NPs seem to aggregate to form nanowires followed by their self-assembly to form petal-like particles. , The sample aging or drying leads to the pseudomorphic transformation of copper hydroxide into petal-like CuO particles. ,, …”

Suppressing H2O2 formation in oxygen reduction reaction using Co-Cu composite electrodes

“…V, three Raman bands are observed at 301, 348, and 620 cm -1 , corresponding to Ag, and two Bg modes of the CuO (Cu +2 ) phase respectively. [34][35][36] Below 0.7 V, which coincides with the reduction of Cu 2+ → Cu + (Figure 1(c)), these peaks vanished and four new peaks appeared at 150, 230, 525, and 631 cm -1 . These peaks can be assigned to the reduced phase Cu2O…”

One‐Step Synthesis of Conductive BNC/PPy·CuCl2 Hybrid Flexible Nanocomposites by In Situ Polymerization

“…e typical bands of PPy are observed in the region of 1560 cm −1 and 1380 cm −1 due to the ring stretching mode and the C�C stretching of the main chain [20]. A peak is observed in the nearby region of 329 cm −1 , characteristic of CuO and CuCl 2 [21]. It can be noticed that for the composite with higher Py concentration and higher molar ratio this peak is more evident.…”