Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Morphology transition of ZnO and Cu2O nanoparticles to 1D, 2D, and 3D nanostructures: hypothesis for engineering of micro and nanostructures (HEMNS)

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel, hybrids and solution chemistries.
  • Published:
Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A novel approach for fabricating one, two, and three-dimensional hybrid ZnO and Cu2O nanostructures has been developed. We have controlled the thickness of hybrid ZnO nanosheets to reach nanoscale at room temperature. The ability of engineering hybrid ZnO nanowires in few minutes is demonstrated. Moreover, supposed mechanism has been suggested and supported by the in situ SEM analysis for a series of picked samples during the reaction. The morphology transition of Cu2O nanoparticles to hierarchical nanowires and nano-flowers is highlighted as experimental evidences for Abdelmohsen theory for morphology transition engineering (ATMTE). In addition, the ability of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to act as a structural directing material for engineering nanowires is introduced. A hypothesis for engineering of micro and nanostructures (HEMNS) that may be applied for nearly all solid materials is demonstrated. Finally, the possibility of engineering Zn-oxidene and thin films are introduced.

Highlights

  • A novel approach for fabricating one, two, and three-dimension hybrid ZnO and Cu2O nanostructures has been developed.

  • We have controlled the thickness of hybrid ZnO nanosheets to reach nanoscale at room temperature.

  • The ability for engineering hybrid ZnO nanowires in few minutes is demonstrated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22
Fig. 23

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Park MS, Kang YM, Wang GX, Dou SX, Liu HK (2008) The effect of morphological modification on the electrochemical properties of SnO2 nanomaterials Adv Funct Mater 18:455–461

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Tanaa, Zhang M, Li J, Li H, Li Y, Shen W (2009) Morphology-dependent redox and catalytic properties of CeO2 nanostructures: nanowires, nanorods and nanoparticles Catal Today 148:179–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ma J, Yang J, Jiao L, Wang T, Lian J, Duan X, Zheng W (2011) Bi2S3 nanomaterials: morphology manipulation and related properties Dalton Trans 40:10100–10108

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Abdelmohsen AH, Rouby WMAE, Ismail N, Farghali AA (2017) Morphology transition engineering (MTE) of ZnO nanorods to nanoplatelets grafted Mo8O23-MoO2 mixed oxide by polyoxometalates: mechanism and possible applicability to other oxides. Sci Rep 7:5946

  5. Abdelmohsen AH (2017) Theory for morphology engineering of solid compounds (ATMESC): facts, predictions and experimental evidences. Mater Sci Eng 6:377

    Google Scholar 

  6. Nikoobakht B, El-Sayed M (2003) Preparation and growth mechanism of gold nanorods (NRs) using seed-mediated growth method. Chem Mater 15(10):1957–1962

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Liu X, Wu X, Cao H, Chang H (2004) Growth mechanism and properties of ZnO nanorods synthesized by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. J Appl Phy 95:3141

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Sun Y, Mayers B, Herricks T, Xia Y (2003) Polyol synthesis of uniform silver nanowires: a plausible growth mechanism and the supporting evidence. Nano Lett 3(7):955–960

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Wang L, Liu G, Zou L, Xue F (2010) Phase evolution from rod-like ZnO to plate-like zinc hydroxysulfate during electrochemical deposition J Alloy Compd 493:471–475

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Yerra S, Supriya S, Das SK (2013) Reversible morphological transition between nano-rods to micro-flowers through micro-hexagonal crystals in a sonochemical synthesis based on a polyoxovanadate compound. Inorg Chem Commun 35:54–57

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Xiong S, Yuan C, Zhang X, Xi B, Qian Y (2009) Controllable synthesis of mesoporous Co3O4 nanostructures with tunable morphology for application in supercapacitors. Chemistry 15(21):5320–5326

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Yan L, Yu R, Chen J, Xing X (2008) Template-free hydrothermal synthesis of CeO2 nano-octahedrons and nanorods: investigation of the morphology evolution. Cryst Growth Des 8(5):1474–1477

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Gao Y, Nagai M (2006) Morphology evolution of ZnO thin films from aqueous solutions and their application to solar cells. Langmuir 22(8):3936–3940

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Sweegers C, de Coninck HC, Meekes H, van Enckevort WJP, Hiralal IDK, Rijkeboer A (2001) Morphology, evolution and other characteristics of gibbsite crystals grown from pure and impure aqueous sodium aluminate solutions J Cryst Growth 233:567–582

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Wang Q, Liu B, Wang X, Ran S, Wang L, Chen D, Shen G (2012) Morphology evolution of urchin-like NiCo2O4 nanostructures and their applications as psuedocapacitors and photoelectrochemical cells. J Mater Chem 22:21647–21653

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Radzimska AK, Jesionowski T (2014) Zinc oxide - from synthesis to application: a review. Materials 7:2833–2881. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma7042833

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhang Q, Zhang K, Xu D, Yang G, Huang H, Nie F, Liu C, Yang S (2014) CuO nanostructures: synthesis, characterization, growth mechanisms, fundamental properties, and applications. Progr Mater Sci. 60:208–337

  18. Xu H, Wang W, Zhu W (2006) Shape evolution and size-controllable synthesis of Cu2O octahedra and their morphology-dependent photocatalytic properties. J Phys Chem B 110:13829–13834

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Sakaki H, Nakamura Y, Yamauchi M, Someya T, Akiyama H, Kishimoto D (1999) 10 nm-scale edge- and step-quantum wires and related structures: progress in their design, epitaxial synthesis and physics Phys E Low Dimens Syst Nanostruct 4:56–64

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Xu J, Wang K, Zu S, Han B, Wei Z (2010) Hierarchical nanocomposites of polyaniline nanowire arrays on graphene oxide sheets with synergistic effect for energy storage. ACS Nano 4(9):5019–5026

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Ye C, Bando Y, Shen G, Golberg D (2006) Thickness-dependent photocatalytic performance of ZnO nanoplatelets. J Phys Chem B 110(31):15146–15151

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Jiang J, Li Y, Liu J, Huang X, Yuan C, Lou X (2012) Recent advances in metal oxide‐based electrode architecture design for electrochemical energy storage. Adv Mater 24:5166–5180

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Zhao M, Wang Z, Mao S (2004) Piezoelectric characterization of individual zinc oxide nanobelt probed by piezoresponse force microscope. Nano Lett 4(4):587–590

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Abdelmohsen A, Vlad A (2017) A facile synthesis of exfoliated graphite like hybrid zinc oxide at room temperature: first step towards metal-oxidene. Ph.D. Students’ Day, UCLouvain (IMCN)—Research Gate

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Alexandru Vlad and Professor Renaut Bouchet for supervising the work.

Author contributions

AHA: Wrote the manuscript, designed the article skeleton, prepared the figures, performed data analysis, postulated the hypothesis, and suggested the mechanism. NI: Revised the article and performed data analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Augsburg University, Institute of Physics, Universitätsstrass 1, 86159, Augsburg, Germany

    Ahmed Abdelmohsen

  2. Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences (IMCN), Bio- and Soft Matter, Université Catholique de Louvain, B-1348, Louvain la Neuve, Belgium

    Ahmed Abdelmohsen

  3. The Central Laboratory, Faculty of Postgraduate Studies for Advanced Science (PSAS), Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, 62511, Egypt

    Ahmed Abdelmohsen

  4. University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble INP-PHELMA, 3 Parvis Louis Ne´el, 38016, Grenoble Cedex, France

    Ahmed Abdelmohsen

  5. Physical Chemistry Department, Centre of Excellence for Advanced Sciences, Renewable Energy Group, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, 12311, Egypt

    Nahla Ismail

Authors
  1. Ahmed Abdelmohsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nahla Ismail
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed Abdelmohsen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Abdelmohsen, A., Ismail, N. Morphology transition of ZnO and Cu2O nanoparticles to 1D, 2D, and 3D nanostructures: hypothesis for engineering of micro and nanostructures (HEMNS). J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 94, 213–228 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-05114-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-05114-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation