Structural and optical properties of 2D CuO nanoleaves

D. Manoj, D. Ranjith Kumar, and J. Santhanalakshmi

Citation: AIP Conf. Proc. 1447, 411 (2012); doi: 10.1063/1.4710054

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 Structural and Optical Properties of 2D CuO Nanoleaves
D.Manoj, D. Ranjith Kumar and J. Santhanalakshmi*

Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai- 600025, INDIA
*E-mail: jslakshmi@yahoo.co.in

Abstract. In this paper, 2D CuO nanoleaves have been synthesized via a simple alcoholic reduction method. The
asprepared CuO nanoleaves appear to be leaf like structure with an average size of 400 nm in length and 150 nm in
width. The optical band-gap energy of the CuO nanoleaves was calculated from the absorbance spectrum to be 1.7eV.
Keywords: CuO nanoleaves, band-gap energy, X-ray diffraction.
PACS: 81.07.Bc: Nanocrystalline Materials

INTRODUCTION atmosphere. The color of the solution changed from

yellowish to dark brown indicated the reduction of
Recently, metal oxide nanostructures (nanorods, Cu2+ ions and the formation of CuO nanostructures.
nanowires, nanotubes, nanosheets, nanoneedles,
nanoribbons) have received significant interest owing RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
to their large surface area with attractive optical and
potential applications [1]. Copper oxide (CuO), an UV- Vis Characterization
important p-type semiconductor, an antiferromagnetic
material, and a high temperature (Tc) superconductor In order to investigate the band gap structure of the
with a narrow band gap of E g= 1.2eV has been studied CuO nanoleaves, an estimate of the optical band gap
extensively and used as a promising material for energy (Eg) is obtained using the following equation
fabricating batteries, magnetic storage media and solar [4].
cells [2]. Therefore, considerable efforts have been
developed towards the synthesis of CuO nanomaterials
Ephoton)
((E E )1/ 2
K ( Ephoton Eg (1)
to enhance their existing applications. Till now, most
of the methods need high temperature and remains a
challenge in controlling morphology of the CuO where, α is the absorption coefficient, Ephoton is the
nanostructures [3]. Therefore, in this present work, we discrete photo energy, K is a constant, and Eg is the
are focusing on a convenient green pathway to band gap energy.
synthesize 2D CuO nanoleaves at elevating
3.0

2.5

temperature in aqueous solutions.

2
Ephoton ) /ev nm
2
2

2.0
Absorbance (a.u)

1.5

EXPERIMENTAL SECTION 1.5 2.0 2.5

Photon energy, E photon(eV)
3.0 3.5

All of the chemicals and reagents were used as

received. In typical method for the preparation of CuO
nanoleaves, an appropriate amount of PDDA solution
300 400 500 600 700 800
was mixed with ethanol/water (4:6 v/v) and then Wavelength (nm)

approximate amount of CuCl2 was added dropwise
into the solution with a molar ratio of 10:1. The pH of
the reaction mixture was adjusted by adding an
aqueous solution of 0.1M NaOH. The reaction was
then heated to about 60 0C for 1h under nitrogen
FIGURE 1. UV- vis absorption spectra of 2D CuO
nanoleaves. Inset shows plot of (αEphoton)2 vs Ephoton
The plot of (αEphoton)2 vs Ephoton based on the direct
transition are shown in Fig.1 (Inset). The extrapolated
value (the straight lines to the x axis) of Ephoton at α =0

Solid State Physics: Proceedings of the 56th DAE Solid State Physics Symposium 2011
AIP Conf. Proc. 1447, 411-412 (2012); doi: 10.1063/1.4710054
© 2012 American Institute of Physics 978-0-7354-1044-2/$30.00

411

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 gives absorption edge energies corresponding to reacting with CuCl2.The bands observed at 498, 423
Eg= 1.7eV respectively. These values are greater than and 608 cm-1 can be attributed to the Cu-O stretching
the value for the bulk CuO (1.2 eV). vibration of the monoclinic phase CuO. In addition
there is no active modes at 615 cm-1 can be observed
XRD Characterization confirms the absence of Cu2O and indicating the
presence of pure CuO with monoclinic structure [5].
Fig. 2 depicts the typical XRD pattern of PDDA
stabilized 2D CuO nanoleaves. The strong diffraction Morphological Analysis
peaks can be indexed as (110), (002), (200), (-202),
(202), (-113), (311), (220) and (-222) corresponding to Fig.4 shows the FESEM image of CuO nanoleaves
the CuO. Compared with the standard diffraction peak with an average size of 400 nm in length and 150 nm
there is no observation of impurities peaks such as in width. Interestingly, we can observe many CuO
Cu(OH)2 and Cu2O reveals the presence of pure CuO nanoleaves with branched side edges. In addition, each
nanostructures. The XRD results confirms the CuO nanoleaves are aligned each other with nanorods
formation of monoclinic CuO structure parallel to each other along the axis of the nanoleaf.
(a0= 4.1728A0, b0= 3.4301Ao, co=5.1261A0)
(JCPDS 89-2529).
Intensity (a.u.)

(200)
(002)

(-202)

(-113)

(-222)
(220)
(311)
(110)

(202)

FIGURE 4. FESEM image of 2D CuO nanoleaves

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
2 (degree) CONCLUSION
FIGURE 2. XRD pattern of 2D CuO nanoleaves In summary, it is simple and convenient to use a
method in which alcoholic reduction of Cu(II) by
FT-IR Characterization PDDA for the formation of 2D CuO nanoleaves. XRD
and FESEM measurements indicate the
Fig.3 compares the FT-IR spectra of the pure nanocrystalline nature of the 2D CuO nanoleaves. The
PDDA (A) and PDDA stabilized 2D CuO nanoleaves optical band gap energy of the 2D CuO nanoleaves
(B). was found to be 1.7eV.

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FIGURE 3. FT-IR spectra of (A) PDDA alone and (B)

PDDA stabilized 2D CuO nanoleaves
The appearance of two new peaks at 1385 and 831cm-1
(curve B), which are assigned to N=O and
C-N vibrations of nitroso group produced after PDDA

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