Surface morphology control of copper wire and its catalytic application for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol

Abstract

Up to now, the reported methods to regulate the surface morphology of metals are complicated and thus difficult to achieve. Herein, the etching method is optimized and used to change the surface morphology of copper (Cu) wire. By adjusting the amount of HCl as etching agent and the purity of Cu wire as the raw material, the Cu wire covered by uniform submicro-sized cubes (CWC) is successfully prepared and chosen as catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. The CWC shows superior catalytic activity, recyclability and stability. Clearly, the as-provided etching method is effective for the surface morphology control of Cu wire, which can be a prospective strategy to obtain the metal materials with special surface morphology.