CuO-ZnO heterometallic hollow spheres: Morphology and defect structure

Journal Article · Wed Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Journal of Solid State Chemistry

OSTI ID:21612893

Xuemin, Shi; Xuzhuang, Yang; Xiaojun, Gu ^[1]

---

1. Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Coal Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021 (China)

The Cu-ZnO hollow spheres, where CuO nanocrystals were dispersed in the shell of ZnO nanoparticals, were synthesized by using highly uniform and monodispersed Cu-embedded carbon spheres as sacrificial templates via a simple route under hydrothermal conditions. The morphology and structure of the spheres were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM and N{sub 2} adsorption-desorption. It was suggested that the OH and C=O groups in the surface of the Cu-embedded carbon spheres facilitated the adsorption of Zn{sup 2+} in the aqueous solution, giving rise to the final CuO-ZnO hollow structure after these Zn{sup 2+}-adsorbed spheres were calcined in air. Moreover, the photoluminescence (PL) study showed that the as-prepared CuO-ZnO hollow spheres and the annealed counterpart exhibited strong and dramatically weakened emissions, respectively. This remarkably different photoluminescent behavior afforded the evidence regarding the oxygen vacancy defects in the CuO-ZnO hollow spheres. - Graphical abstract: CuO-ZnO hollow spheres were obtained using Cu-embedded carbon spheres as template, and the photoluminescent spectra afforded the evidence regarding the oxygen vacancies in the hollow spheres. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A approach was presented to prepare carbon spheres in a high yield. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The fabrication of CuO-ZnO hollow spheres was a simple route. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The photoluminescence afforded the evidence of the oxygen vacancies in the hollows. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The synthetic approach might be applicable to preparing other hollow structures.

• OSTI ID: 21612893
• Journal Information: Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Journal Name: Journal of Solid State Chemistry Vol. 186; ISSN 0022-4596; ISSN JSSCBI
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ADSORPTION
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
CARBON
CHALCOGENIDES
COHERENT SCATTERING
COPPER COMPOUNDS
COPPER OXIDES
DEFECTS
DESORPTION
DIFFRACTION
DISPERSIONS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ELEMENTS
EMISSION
FOURIER TRANSFORMATION
HOMOGENEOUS MIXTURES
INFRARED SPECTRA
INTEGRAL TRANSFORMATIONS
LUMINESCENCE
MICROSCOPY
MIXTURES
MORPHOLOGY
NANOSTRUCTURES
NONMETALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
PHOTON EMISSION
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SCATTERING
SOLUTIONS
SORPTION
SPECTRA
SURFACES
TRANSFORMATIONS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
ZINC COMPOUNDS
ZINC OXIDES