Electrochemical fabrication of Cu(OH)2 and CuO nanostructures and their catalytic property

In this paper, we reported an anodization method for the fabrication of novel uniform Cu(OH)2 nanowires, CuO nanoparticles, and CuO shuttle-like nanoparticles with advanced structures. The possible formation mechanism of Cu(OH)2 nanowires, CuO nanoparticles, and CuO shuttle-like nanoparticles was proposed. The good catalytic properties of CuO nanoparticles converted from Cu(OH)2 nanowires and the CuO shuttle-like nanoparticles were confirmed by evaluating their catalytic ability on the C–N cross coupling of amines with iodobenzene.

► Electrochemical fabrication of uniform Cu(OH)2 and CuO nanostructures.
► The formation mechanism of Cu(OH)2 nanowires and CuO nanostructures was proposed.
► CuO nanostructures exhibited good catalytic ability on the C–N cross coupling.