Facile synthesis of flowerlike CuO by double-hydroxides treatment and their electrochemical properties

Abstract

We report a new method to prepare flowerlike CuO architectures based on double-hydroxides treatment using cupric nitrate as raw materials at 200°C and atmospheric pressure. The CuO products look like blooms composed of many thin petals which have acuate tips and wide bases with a width of 300–600nm and a length of 1–2μm. The petal surfaces are coarse with many particulates and grooves. The hierarchical CuO flowers exhibit admirable sensitivity in detecting nonenzymatic glucose. An initial discharge capacity of 926.3mAhg−1 is delivered for the flowerlike CuO, fading to 494.8mAhg−1 in the second cycle due to irreversible reductive reactions. A Coulombic efficiency of ∼98% is retained in the subsequent cycles.