Facile synthesis and characterization of tenorite nanoparticles from gas-atomized Cu powder.

CuO powder is widely used because of its high activity and selectivity in oxidation/reduction reactions. CuO nanoparticles are interesting because of their high ratio of surface area to mass, which is expected to enhance the catalytic performance of a material. Because of such importance, CuO nanoparticles were prepared by two different facile routes. The first involved the reaction of pure Cu powder with nitric acid to form Cu(NO 3 ) 2 intermediate. In the second route, glacial acetic acid was employed to react with pure Cu powder to form Cu(CH 3 COO) 2 intermediate. After purification, both intermediates were reacted with NaOH via a solid-state route to form CuO powders. The intermediates and end products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction technique. Experimental results indicated that synthesis of the CuO nanoparticles via the Cu(NO 3 ) 2 intermediate yielded slightly higher product and fine particle sizes with a larger aspect ratio. In contrast, the Cu(CH 3 COO) 2 intermediate route yielded lower product yield and fine particle sizes with a smaller aspect ratio. However, due to the extremely fine particle size it was observed that nanoparticle agglomeration could not be avoided particularly in the CuO nanopowders produced via the Cu(CH 3 COO) 2 intermediate route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]