Synthesis of copper (II) oxide nanoparticles by pulsed sonoelectrochemical method and its characterization

Synthesis of cupric oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) were done by modified sonoelectrochemical process which is pulse sonication using copper (II) acetate and sodium hydroxide as a precursor in the presence of glucose as a surfactant. In the present study, poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) was also used as the stabilizing agent in the synthesis of CuO nanoparticles. The copper (II) oxide nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis, FT-IR, Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The PVP was found to greatly promote the dispersed and homogeneous phase of copper oxide nanoparticles. The influence of the parameters of electrochemical and ultrasonic pulses on the particle diameter was also studied. All the samples have been calcined at 500 °C and found an absorption peak in between 250-300 nm by UV-vis spectrophotometer. Furthermore, the absorption spectra of CuO nanoparticle were examined to explore the possibility of using them as a material for applications such as solar cell. The XRD and TEM analysis showed the high crystallinity and lesser size of CuO nanoparticles with PVP. XRD peaks value depend on the calcination temperature and reaction time that reveal an average crystallite size found to be 30 nm using Scherrer equation.