Electrochemical synthesis and characterization of Cu2O nanoparticles: Effect of electrolyte composition

This research studied the effect of electrolyte composition NaCl, Na 2 SO 4 and CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, C 19 H 42 BrN) on the electrochemical synthesis of Cu 2 O nanoparticles. The NaCl concentration was varied in three levels of 58.5, 117 and 175.5 (g/L); the Na 2 SO 4 concentration was changed in three levels of 24, 32 and 48 (g/L) and the CTAB concentration was adjusted in four levels of 2, 4, 6 and 15 (g/L). The current density and temperature were kept constant at 0.4 (A/cm 2 ) and 70 °C, respectively and the cathode-anode distance was set at 2.5 cm. The morphology, composition, particle size and distribution of the samples were examined by FESEM, XRD and DLS. The results indicated that increasing the concentration of electrolyte NaCl and Na 2 SO 4 enhanced the purity of Cu 2 O. The Cu 2 O crystals were smaller than 100 nm and formed as polycrystalline. Moreover, higher concentration of NaCl than Na 2 SO 4 led to a better result. CTAB effectively inhibited the growth of Cu 2 O nanoparticles and the particle size decreased with increasing CTAB. The optimal result was achieved in the sample with 4 (g/L) CTAB and 175 (g/L) NaCl. Cu 2 O nanoparticles with high purity and crystal size of 27.87 nm were produced.