Preparation and Thermal Properties of CuO Particles

The current article reports a synthetic method for the production of sodium oleate-capped crystalline copper(II) oxide particles which can be readily dispersed in hydrocarbons such as hexane, octane, dodecane, and eicosane to achieve colloids of very high concentration. Mass concentrations of up to 20% (1.65 M) were achieved in octane, dodecane, and eicosane and remained stable for at least 10 days at room temperature as observed by visible spectroscopy. Quasi-spherical particle shape was observed with the largest fraction possessing a diameter of 9 nm and 90% of the population existing within the range 5-15 nm. The colloidal systems were characterized using FAA, XRD, TEM, UV-Vis, DSC, and a simple device inspired by Newton's law of cooling which was employed to measure cooling/heating rates. Thermodynamic measurements of CuO/SOA particles suspended in dodecane and eicosane reveal a decrease in C-p, Delta H-fus, and cooling/heating rates of the resulting colloid with large increases in particle mass concentration, the latter of which decreased by 82%.