Effect of surfactants on fabricating CuO nanoleaves and Cu nanocages at room temperature

•Monodispersed CuO nanoleaves were obtained with assistance of surfactant.•Octahedral Cu nanocages were prepared by reducing CuO nanoleaves.•PVP- and SOA-assisted Cu had relative higher activity.•(PVP- and SOA-assisted Cu)-constructed sensors had better response to glucose.

Typical surfactants, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and sodium oleate (SOA), were employed to investigate their effect on fabricating CuO nanoleaves and Cu nanocages at room temperature. Comparing with the system without surfactant, adding surfactant could improve the monodispersity of CuO nanoleaves. The obtained CuO nanoleaves were further reduced to Cu nanocages. CTAB performed few effects on the reduction process. PVP accelerated the reducing velocity, while SOA had inhibitory effect on the reaction. The reaction activities of the obtained Cu nanocages with and without surfactants were characterized by thermo-gravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG–DTA), and the sequence of activity with oxygen is PVP-assisted Cu > SOA-assisted Cu > CTAB-assisted Cu > Cu without surfactant. The obtained Cu nanocages were also used to construct non-enzymatic glucose sensors. The electrodes modified by PVP- and SOA-assisted Cu had relative higher sensitivity than the others.

Graphical abstractEffects of different surfactants (CTAB, PVP and SOA) on fabricating Cu nanocages and cages’ properties were studied. PVP- and SOA-assisted Cu had higher activity compared to CTAB-assisted Cu and Cu without surfactant.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide