pH-Dependent Single-Step Rapid Synthesis of CuO Nanoparticles and Their Optical Behavior

This paper reports the pH-dependent growth of copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles by wet chemical precipitation method using pH value of the samples as the only variable parameter. The phase purity, morphology, optical behavior, and elemental analysis of synthesized nanoparticles are shown to be critically dependent on the pH of the samples. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) results shows that a higher pH results well-defined CuO nanoflakes. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) results disclosed that the growth of pure CuO with monoclinic structure at higher pH 8, whereas mixed phase was formed at lower pH 7. The average crystallite size of samples prepared at pH 8 to 10 was varying from 23.36 to 25.78 nm. The infrared spectroscopy showed that the O-H stretching peaks become narrow with an increase in the pH value. Optical results revealed the existence of the sharp absorption edges with precise excitonic features and photoluminescence bands both located at visible and near infrared spectral region attributed to the excellent optical behavior and narrow size distribution of particles. The additional near infrared band in photoluminescence spectrum located at 860 nm is attributed the defect-related luminescence. The growth mechanism of CuO nanostructures was discussed in the light of our findings.