Photocatalytic application of hollow CuO microspheres with hierarchical dandelion-like structures synthesized by a simple template free approach

In this study, hollow copper oxide microspheres were synthesized by a simple and low cost co-precipitation reaction of Cu(NO3)(2) center dot 3H(2)O and ammonia without catalyst, template or surfactant. The prepared CuO was characterized by XRD, FT-IR spectroscopy, DRS and SEM images. The morphology of the CuO powder consists of Hierarchical dandelion-like structures contain one-dimensional nanoribbons with the average size of 20-30 nm according to SEM images. The XRD pattern showed that the synthesized CuO nanostructures have a high crystallinity with monoclinic crystal structure. The prepared CuO was applied for photodegradation of methylene blue under UV and visible light irradiation and showed good photocatalytic performance to degrade the dye (for 5 mg L-1 MB solution: 97.3% degradation). (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.