Morphology evolution from thin-hexapod to aggregated sphere of Cu2O microcrystals

A range of morphologies of Cu2O microcrystals, such as thin-hexapod, thick-hexapod, truncated hexapod, truncated octahedron, cuboctahedron, and aggregated sphere were prepared by the reduction reaction from the mixed solution of CuCl2, NaOH, glucose, and poly(ethylene) glycol. Monodispersed and well-crystallized Cu2O microcrystals were prepared for only a few minutes using a conventional microwave oven. The amount of glucose and the microwave irradiation time play important roles in controlling the morphology of the Cu2O microcrystals. The morphology of the Cu2O microcrystals was changed from thin-hexapod to aggregated sphere by the glucose concentration. The morphology of Cu2O microcrystals was changed from thick-hexapod to octahedron by increasing the microwave irradiation time. The crystal growth mechanism and morphology evolution of Cu2O microcrystals are discussed.

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► In this work we report the first simple morphology-controlled synthesis for various morphologies of Cu2O microcrystals.
► We synthesized the Cu2O microcrystals using a conventional microwave oven only for 3 min.
► We find that the amount of glucose and the microwave irradiation time play important roles in controlling the morphology of Cu2O microcrystals.