Issue 9, 2017

Facile and time-saving synthesis of octahedral Cu2O crystals by an ethanol-assisted solution method at low temperatures

Abstract

Size-uniform octahedral Cu2O crystals were synthesized by a facile and time-saving ethanol-assisted solution method at low temperatures. The synthesized products were systematically characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that the amount of ethanol has strong effects on the phase purity and morphology development of the products. By adjusting the amount of ethanol, the morphology of Cu2O gradually changed from sphere to octahedron. The possible crystal growth processes are proposed. The presence of more oxygen in ethanol is helpful to the formation of octahedral Cu2O seeds with truncated low index {111} planes. It is suggested that the oriented attachment mechanism plays an important role in the transition from tiny Cu2O crystals to large octahedral Cu2O single crystals. The preferential adsorption of ethanol molecules on the Cu2O {111} facets makes the octahedral Cu2O more stable.

Graphical abstract: Facile and time-saving synthesis of octahedral Cu2O crystals by an ethanol-assisted solution method at low temperatures

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
04 Jan 2017
Accepted
27 Jan 2017
First published
27 Jan 2017

CrystEngComm, 2017,19, 1258-1264

Facile and time-saving synthesis of octahedral Cu2O crystals by an ethanol-assisted solution method at low temperatures

J. Xue, M. Shao, Q. Shen, X. Liu and H. Jia, CrystEngComm, 2017, 19, 1258 DOI: 10.1039/C7CE00021A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements