Synthesis and investigation of novel ZnO–CuO core-shell nanospheres

Abstract

In this work, ZnO–CuO core-shell hybrid nanospheres with well-crystalline wurzite ZnO core and monoclinic CuO shell were successfully synthesized through a two-stage solution process. The as-prepared nanocomposites were carefully characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and UV/Vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS). Compared with bare ZnO cores, the ZnO–CuO core-shell 0-dimensional nanocomposites had greatly enhanced absorption strength and dramatically broadened optical response ranging from near-ultraviolet to visible light, which was probably attributed to heterojunction between n-ZnO core and p-CuO shell and defects originated from synthetic procedure. The as-synthesized p-CuO/n-ZnO core-shell hybrid structure may lead to tantalizing applications including solar energy materials, LED and optical sensor.