Facile Synthesis of Leaf-like Cu(OH)2 and Its Conversion into CuO with Nanopores

Leaf-like Cu(OH)2 single crystals were synthesized via the controlled emulsion interface method using Span80 (sorbitan monooleate) as the stabilizer of the emulsion system. CuO products with nanopores could be simply obtained by the dehydration of Cu(OH)2, while maintaining the strip-shaped architecture. The phase structures and morphologies were measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Experimental results showed that Cu(OH)2 microleaves were single crystals and the growth direction seemed to be in [111] crystal plane of the orthorhombic Cu(OH)2. The formation of the nanopores should be attributed to the water loss of the transformation from Cu(OH)2 to CuO. The formation process of Cu(OH)2 was investigated by taking TEM images at different stages of the reaction. The formed nanoparticles began to rearrange to form nanorods and microleaves possibly via edge-by-edge and side-by-side oriented-attachments because of the formation of larger crystals greatly reducing the interfacial energy. Besides, CuO microarchitectures exhibit blue shifts in UV-Vis spectra and possess larger band gaps compared with those of bulk crystals.