Plasma-Synthesis of MOF-Derived Nanoporous Copper Oxides for Solar Thermal Application

Abstract

Nanoporous Metal oxides (P-MOx) have attracted great attention because of their enhanced performances in e.g., energy storage, catalysis, sensors, solar technology, and biomedicine due to large surface area coupled with good thermal and chemical stability. Existing synthesis techniques of P-MOx suffer from major drawbacks such as longer time and limitation in material choices. Plasma assisted synthesis of metal organic framework (MOF) derived P-MOx can be a rapid and sustainable one-step process and allow a higher degree of flexibility in controlling porosity, pore size distribution and surface properties. Herein, synthesis of nanoporous copper oxides (P-CuOx) was carried out by plasma treating copper-based MOF as a precursor. A systematic study of the transformation of MOF to derived P-CuOx has been carried out by varying the plasma treatment time also the formation of different phases of CuO and Cu2O was investigated. Additionally, a comparative study of properties was done between the plasma-synthesised P-CuOx and pyrolytically synthesised P-CuOx. Transformation process of MOF to P-CuOx was studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman analysis. Moreover, morphological properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Finally detail optical characterization and solar thermal conversion properties of P-CuOx based nanofluid were studied to test its applicability in solar thermal energy harvesting.