Facile synthesis and characterization of tenorite nanoparticles from gas-atomized Cu powder

• Facile synthesis routes for converting atomized Cu powders to CuO nanoparticles
• Production yields of both synthesis routes employed in this work are high.
• One of the synthesis routes employed in this work is environmentally friendly.
• CuO nanoparticle aggregation as micron-sized particles provides handling convenience.

CuO powder is widely used because of its high activity and selectivity in oxidation/reduction reactions. CuO nanoparticles are interesting because of their high ratio of surface area to mass, which is expected to enhance the catalytic performance of a material. Because of such importance, CuO nanoparticles were prepared by two different facile routes. The first involved the reaction of pure Cu powder with nitric acid to form Cu(NO3)2 intermediate. In the second route, glacial acetic acid was employed to react with pure Cu powder to form Cu(CH3COO)2 intermediate. After purification, both intermediates were reacted with NaOH via a solid-state route to form CuO powders. The intermediates and end products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction technique. Experimental results indicated that synthesis of the CuO nanoparticles via the Cu(NO3)2 intermediate yielded slightly higher product and fine particle sizes with a larger aspect ratio. In contrast, the Cu(CH3COO)2 intermediate route yielded lower product yield and fine particle sizes with a smaller aspect ratio. However, due to the extremely fine particle size it was observed that nanoparticle agglomeration could not be avoided particularly in the CuO nanopowders produced via the Cu(CH3COO)2 intermediate route.

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