Preparation and properties of semiconductor CuO nanoparticles via a simple precipitation method at different reaction temperatures

Preparation and properties of CuO nanoparticles as an important p-type semiconductor via a simple precipitation method at different reaction temperatures varying from 10 to 115°C using copper acetate as a starting material have been reported. In addition, we investigated the influence of the ultrasonic irradiation through synthesizing the nanosized CuO at 60°C. Samples were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM and UV-Vis techniques. XRD patterns of samples were identical to the single-phase pure CuO with a monoclinic structure. FT-IR spectra exhibited sharp peaks at around 519 and 598 cm−1 which can be assigned to vibrations of the Cu-O bond. Results indicated that properties of samples had great dependence on the temperature and ultrasonic irradiation. The crystallite size and crystallization increased with increasing the temperature from 10 to 115°C. The band gap of samples was estimated to be in the range of 1.9–2.9 eV that is larger than the reported value for the bulk CuO (1.85 eV). This study provides a simple method for the preparation of nanosized CuO with a better surface uniformity and a narrow size distribution. Synthesized CuO samples with adjustable and controllable optical properties make the applicability of copper oxide even more versatile.