Copper oxide nanoparticles synthesized by a heat treatment approach with structural, morphological and optical characteristics.

In this paper, using heat treatment approach has achieved a successful synthesis of copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles with monoclinic structure. Thus, copper(II) nitrate trihydrate has been employed as a metal precursor, polyvinylpyrrolidone as a capping agent, while the solvent was deionized water by altering the calcining temperatures from 500 to 800 °C. The XRD patterns, EDX and FTIR spectra have proved that the CuO nanoparticles obtained have a high level of purity, crystallinity and nano-size. The FESEM images showed that nanoparticles are spherical with a tendency of agglomeration while calcining temperature being increased. Additionally, it has been noted that as the calcining temperature rose, the average particles sizes increased as demonstrated by TEM images. The optical properties have been demonstrated by using the UV visible spectrophotometer; the obtained results have revealed that the energy band gab decreases in relation with the calcination temperature increment. Further results have shown that the photoluminescent intensity has been increased with the calcination temperature increment as demonstrated by photoluminescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]