Synthesis of Cu2O microspheres with hollow and solid morphologies and their gas sensing properties.

Cu 2 O microspheres with hollow and solid features were successfully prepared via a convenient liquid phase reducing method. Interestingly, we found that the discrepancy in morphology arose from a simply changing on the adding sequence of aqueous sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and CuCl 2 with other conditions unchanged. Based on experimental results, the feasible formation mechanisms of both morphologies were deduced, where the relative concentration of SDS and CuCl 2 was a crucial factor that effect the resultant morphologies. In comparison with the solid microspheres, the hollow Cu 2 O exhibited superior gas sensing performance. The significant performance might ascribe to its unique hollow structure, contributing to plenty of active sites existed on both the inner and outer surface and unrestricted gas diffusion in the hollow microspheres. In this work, hollow and solid cuprous oxide microspheres were successfully synthesized by liquid phase reducing method and the gas sensing performance of the samples was investigated. In addition, we also explore the effect of the adding sequence of aqueous sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and CuCl 2 on the resultant morphologies of Cu 2 O and propose the growth formation mechanism. Image 1 • Cu 2 O microspheres with hollow and solid features were successfully prepared. • The hollow structure exhibited superior gas sensing performance than the solid microspheres. • The adding sequence played a vital role on the morphology of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]