Synthesis and Characterisation of Copper Oxide nanoparticles

Cupric oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were prepared by the chemical route by calcinations at a higher temperature from 300 o C to 400 o C. For the comparison transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements were made through JCPDS.There is good agreement between data produced by spectroscopy and the microscopic measurements. I. Introduction-Metal oxide nanoparticles have shown their great interest in field of sensing ,optoelectronics ,catalysis and solar cells due to their unique physical and chemical properties differing from bulk.Among all the metal oxides copper oxide nanomaterials have attracted more attention due to its unique properties.Cu 2 O ( Cuprous oxide) and CuO (Cupric Oxide) are two important oxide compounds of copper.Cuprous oxide is p-type direct band gap II -VI semiconductor (3) with band gap of 2 eV and Cupric oxide has a monoclinic structure and presents p-type semiconductor behavior with a Indirect band gap of 1.21 -1.51 eV.Copper oxide nanomaterials have the advantage of a lower surface potential barrier than that of metals, which affects electron field emission properties.Copper oxide is considered as a potential field emitter, an efficient catalytic agent, as well as a good gas sensing material.It also plays an important role in optoelectronics and solar cell (1-7).The metal elements are able to form a large diversity of oxide compounds.These can adopt a vast number of structural geometries with an electronic structure that can exhibit metallic ,semiconductor or insulator character.Nanomaterials have unique properties in comparison to the same materials in bulk form (2). Particle size is expected to Influence three Important group of basic properties in any material .The first one comprises the structural characteristics, namely the lattice symmetry and cell parameters.Bulk Oxides are usually robust and stable system with well defined crystallographic structures.However, the growing importance of surface free energy and stress with decreasing particle size must be considered: changes in thermodynamic stability associated with size can induce modification of cell parameters and/or structural transformations and in extreme cases the nanoparticle can disappear due to interactions with its surrounding environment and a high surface free energy.In order to display mechanical or structural stability, a nanoparticle must have a low surface free energy.As a consequence of this requirement, phases that have a low stability in bulk materials can become very stable in nanostructures.This structural phenomenon has been detected in TiO 2, VO x , Al 2 O 3 , or MoO x oxides.