Hierarchical architectures of monodisperse porous Cu microspheres: synthesis, growth mechanism, high-efficiency and recyclable catalytic performance

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 2; no. 30; pp. 11966 - 11973
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yu, Zhu, Pengli, Chen, Liang, Li, Gang, Zhou, Fengrui, Lu, Daoqiang (Daniel), Sun, Rong, Zhou, Feng, Wong, Ching-ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 14.08.2014
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/C4TA01920B

Novel hierarchical architectures of porous copper (Cu) microspheres assembled with nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by ingeniously selecting the precursor and complexant through a facile wet chemical reduction method. The resultant porous Cu microspheres have a size distribution of 700 plus or minus 50 nm and have excellent monodispersity. The synergistic effect between the precursor of slightly soluble copper hydroxide and the complexants of polyacrylic acid and ethanol amine exactly induces the generation of unique porous hierarchical architectures. The obtained porous Cu microspheres were applied to reduce and degrade different organic dyes with high concentrations (4-nitrophenol, methylene blue, and rhodamine B) in the presence of NaBH sub(4). Compared with solid Cu particles that have the same size, these porous Cu microspheres exhibit more excellent catalytic activity due to their hierarchical structures. Moreover, the catalyst with universal applicability could be easily separated from the catalytic system and sustainedly possess high stability in recycled reactions.