A facile one-pot synthesis of Cu-Cu2O concave cube hybrid architectures

Novel Cu-Cu2O concave cube hybrid architectures were prepared via a facile solution method. A spherical Cu particle is intimately attached to the surfaces of a truncated Cu2O cube that is enclosed by {110} edges, {111} corners, and {100} facets with truncated pyramid-like pits to form the hybrid architecture. The formation of the concave hybrid architectures involves over-reduction and caramelization of glucose under strong alkaline conditions. As an anode, the hybrid architectures show superior electrochemical performance for lithium-ion batteries compared to truncated Cu2O cubes and irregular Cu2O crystals.