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Facile synthesis of hierarchical CuO nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic activity
Author(s) -
Villani M.,
Alabi A.B.,
Coppedè N.,
Calestani D.,
Lazzarini L.,
Zappettini A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
crystal research and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.377
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1521-4079
pISSN - 0232-1300
DOI - 10.1002/crat.201300409
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , nanostructure , selected area diffraction , materials science , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , pulmonary surfactant , nanoparticle , surface area to volume ratio , catalysis , chemistry , transmission electron microscopy , organic chemistry , engineering
Herein we present a simple solution‐based protocol to produce a highly efficient photocatalyst consisting of a 3D assembly of 2D nanostructures via one‐pot synthesis. Such hierarchical assembly allow a very high surface/volume ratio and facing of active photocatalytic surface. Morphological and structural investigations of the as‐grown CuO nanostructures have been performed by FESEM, STEM, HRTEM, SAED and XRD analyses. A detailed study of the photocatalytic activity has been carried out, comparing CuO with reference TiO 2 nanoparticles: a very high photocatalytic activity has been measured, higher than that of commercial TiO 2 and among the best reported in literature for CuO. This can be reasonably ascribed to the synthetic procedure: on the one hand the hierarchical assembly exhibit a very high surface to volume ratio; on the other, the surfactant‐free approach allows the whole surface of the nanostructure to be exposed to the chemical environment and hence maximize the photo‐degradation of organic pollutants.