Novel Facile Technique for Synthesis of Stable Cuprous Oxide (Cu2O) Nanoparticles – an Ageing Effect

Abstract

A novel facile method to synthesize stable phase of Cuprous Oxide (Cu2O) nanoparticles at room temperature is demonstrated. The structural and optical properties of (Cu2O) nanoparticles were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-VIS Spectroscopy. XRD analysis has indexed nanocrystalline nature of cubical phase Cu2O with an average edge length of about 20 nm. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) measurements also ascertain the cubical morphology. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) affirms the presence of characteristic functional group of Cu2O. The absorbance peak at 485 nm in UV-VIS spectra also confirms the Cu2O synthesis. Furthermore, UV-VIS absorbance spectra at different ageing time substantiate the phase stability of Cu2O nanoparticles. The ageing leads to blue shift of absorbance peak mainly due to decrease in Cu2O particle size with no additional absorbance peak in UV-VIS spectra indicating the formation of secondary phase. The reduction in particle size may be attributed to tiny conversion Cu2O to CuO. The energy band gap measurements from Tauc plots for Cu2O nanoparticles shows the increasing trend (2.5 eV to 2.8 eV) with ageing time (2 months), owing to quantum confinement effects.