Elsevier

Coordination Chemistry Reviews

Volume 419, 15 September 2020, 213378
Coordination Chemistry Reviews

Review
Environmentally benign production of cupric oxide nanoparticles and various utilizations of their polymeric hybrids in different technologies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2020.213378Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Fabrication of nanosize CuO through the plant and fruits extracts.

  • Preparation of antibacterial fabrics and hydrogels by CuO for biomedical area.

  • Application of CuO/polymer NCs in remediation industry.

  • Preparation of several bio-sensors and electrodes with polymer/CuO NCs.

  • Enhancement in the conductivity behavior of several polymers by CuO.

Abstract

Cupric oxide (CuO) is an affordable and valuable semiconductor material with brilliant physiochemical features such as antibacterial, antioxidant, low-cost, as well as non-toxicity. Also, this metal oxide has promising usages in water remediation, biomedical, bio-sensors, electrodes, photocatalysts, and so on. On the other side, polymers play a notable role in social life. By insertion of CuO into polymers, new materials with developed features for diverse applications can be achieved. So, there is a requirement to attain current data and collected information about them. Thus, this comprehensive review focuses on the design, properties, and applications of polymer/CuO nanocomposites (NCs). CuO NCs are introduced in three parts, bio-NCs, conductive NCs, and other NCs with different polymers, and significant usages of the manufactured materials are presented in remediation, sensing materials, drug delivery, catalysis, biomedical, nanofluids, textile, lithium-ion batteries, and solar cells. At first, this review presents a narrative summary of the eco-friendly approaches and utilization of nano-sized CuO. Then, surface treatment methods of this metal oxide by various modifiers for good dispersion in the matrixes are described. After that, various polymeric hybrids of CuO are introduced, and the influence of nano-CuO on the polymer characteristics is examined.

Introduction

Polymers, as innovative substances, recently play a notable role in social life. So that imagine a society without artificial or natural polymers, is difficult and problematic. Humans employ polymeric materials for the most of their daily needs, such as clothing and nutrition [1], [2], cosmetics [3], construction and decoration [4], packaging [5], communication [6], electronic [7], agriculture and irrigation [8], [9], health-care and medication [10], [11], and so on [12]. Another utilization of the polymers is employing them in the fabrication of numerous nanocomposites (NCs) comprising various nanoparticles (NPs) and nano-materials like, Al2O3 [13], ZrO2 [14], TiO2 [15], graphene [16], ZnO [17], [18], nano-carbons [19], calcium carbonate [20], nano-clay [21], SiO2 [22], and so on.

Among the three types of NCs based on ceramic, polymer, and metal, polymeric NCs have attracted plentiful attention (Fig. 1) [23]. Although, they comprising nanosized materials examined more than two decades, yet, they are the noteworthy topic of various investigation programs in academia as well as industry (Fig. 2). Polymer NCs, based on biopolymers and conductive polymers, are innovative engineering substances and display diverse physicochemical and biological features. Furthermore, three approaches were employed to fabricate the polymeric NCs, comprising sol–gel, blending, as well as in-situ polymerization [24]. Owing to the existence of useful characteristics of the polymers and nano-fillers in the NCs, they have outstanding features and industrial importance in different sectors like biomedical [25], optoelectronic apparatus [26], aerospace [27], packaging and coatings [28], sensors and batteries [29], [30], printing uses [31], tissue engineering [32], flame retardants [33], as well as environmental treatment [34].

Metal oxide nanostructures, as a kind of versatile nano-materials with the highest worldwide annual manufacture, are employed in many applications [35]. They have exceptional construction, fascinating chemical, optical, as well as magnetic features [36]. Hence, they are used in absorbents, lasers, antibacterial applications, photochemistry, electronics, automotive catalysts, photo-physical uses, as a filler in the NCs, remediation, and other usages [36], [37], [38], [39]. Among all of them, semiconductive metal oxides have essential applicants from technological as well as a scientific point of vision [40].

Copper(II) oxide/cupric oxide or CuO, as one of the Cu-based oxides, has noticeable and satisfactory features like abundantly and affordability, fabrication simplicity, scalability, non-toxicity, antioxidant, and semiconducting behaviors. Since Cu is meaningfully affordable metal than Ag (almost 10-fold inexpensive than Ag) and Au, thus, it is economically nice-looking material for NPs fabrication. So, Cu and Cu-based oxide NPs have successfully numerous utilizations like biomedical, remediation, bio-sensors, and so on. CuO, as a metal monoxide, is a Mott insulator [41] and its stability is high compared to the copper(I) oxide (another oxide of Cu) owing to more stability of Cu(II) ions in ambiance. Nanosized CuO is produced in numerous forms such as nano-needle, nano-flower, nano-rod, nano-wire, and NPs. Numerous techniques have been employed to manufacture the CuO NPs for instance, electro-chemical-thermal, oxidation–reduction route, sonochemical, microwave-assisted, and precipitation route [38]. In 2014, the manufacture, characteristics, and utilization of CuO nanocrystals were reviewed [42]. However, these chemical procedures are costly, harsh reaction conditions, and cause environmental pollutions. Thus in recent years, green, simple, non-hazardous, and cost-effective reagents utilize to manufacture the nanosized CuO to reduce toxic substances in the environment [43], [44]. Sankar et al. utilized Carica papaya leaf for the bio-fabrication of nano-CuO with rod shape morphology and size of 140 nm. Photodegradation of brilliant blue by as-prepared CuO was examined and higher efficiency was obtained [45]. Sivaraj and coworkers manufactured nanocrystal CuO (48 ± 4 nm in size) with pinwheel flower extract and examine the antibacterial behavior of them. 50 µg/ml of CuO revealed the extreme inhibition zone of pathogens [46]. CuO semiconductor is used as a nano-filler in the fabrication of NCs. The insertion of CuO to the matrix can extensively influence the features of it [47]. In other words, the characteristics of the fabricated NCs are related to the size and the concentration of nano-CuO. Because of the high surface energy of the nano-CuO, they tend to accumulate in the matrix, which degrades the pleasant features of the NCs. Hence, it is necessary to functionalize the surface of them using organic moieties, polymer molecules, or other surface modifiers to reduce attraction force among NPs and stabilize them in the matrixes as well as aqueous media [48].

Owing to the gorgeous displays of CuO NPs and attained benefits via the incorporation of CuO into the various polymer matrixes, there is an obligation to attain current data and collected information about CuO/polymer-based NCs. Furthermore, according to our knowledge, a review containing polymer NCs based on nanosized CuO has not been reported so far. Thus this comprehensive review focuses on the design, features, and utilizations of CuO NCs. These NCs are introduced in three parts, bio-NCs, conductive NCs, and other NCs with different polymers. Important usages of the manufactured materials are presented in remediation, sensing materials, drug delivery, catalysis, biomedical, nanofluids, textile, lithium-ion batteries, and solar cells. Besides, in this review, it is tried to present green approaches to fabricate the nanosized CuO. After describing the numerous utilizations and surface functionalization of CuO, numerous polymeric hybrids of nano-CuO are described.

Section snippets

Structure and characteristics of CuO NPs

CuO, as an inorganic antiferromagnetic material, is a black solid and one of the two stable oxides of the copper [49], [50]. It is the simplest construction of the copper compounds. Indeed, CuO is a transition metal monoxide, which is composed of two components oxygen and copper, which are p and d block elements, respectively. Four oxygen ions coordinate copper ions in a square planner configuration. CuO NPs have appealed extensive consideration since copper and combinations of copper are

Surface treatment of CuO NPs

The important problem for the fabrication of the NCs is the tendency of nano-CuO particles to adhesion and accumulation in the polymeric matrix. After reducing the dimension of CuO particles to the nano-scale, the proportion of the atoms on the nano-CuO surface increases. Thus, NPs become further reactive as well as unstable, followed by inadequate distribution of fillers in the matrix and reducing the physiochemical or optical features of ideal NCs [220]. Moreover, since the surface of metal

Polymeric composites comprising nanosized CuO particles

Organic-inorganic materials demonstrate a wide range of features [250], [251], [252]. Various polymers as organic compounds can be employed to manufacture the NCs. Conductive polymers like PAni and polypyrrole (PPy), thermoplastic polymers, such as polyethylene terephthalate, as well as polystyrene, thermosetting macromolecules like polyurethanes (PU)s. Besides, today, attention on NCs based on synthetic or natural biopolymers has been increased due to population growth, climate change, and

Conclusions

Today, natural or synthetic polymers have a vital performance in our life. After the assistance of nanotechnology in the sector of polymeric substances, the characteristics of the polymers have been developed. The future development in most areas depends on the new information-based nano-materials. By inserting the mineral NPs into the polymeric matrixes, NC materials with a specific blend of novel features, have obtained that suggest various opportunities in different usages such as microbial

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

We thank the Research Affairs Division, Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Isfahan, I. R. Iran for financial support. In addition, we grateful to Iran Nanotechnology Initiative Council (INIC), Tehran, I. R. Iran, National Elite Foundation (NEF), Tehran, I. R. Iran, and Center of Excellence in Sensors and Green Chemistry (IUT), Isfahan, I. R. Iran for partial financial support. The authors would like to thank Dr. V. Behranvand, Dr. F. Tabesh, Miss. F. Sirous, Miss. M. Naghdi, Dr. M. Hatami,

Professor Shadpour Mallakpour, organic polymer chemist, graduated from chemistry department, University of Florida (UF), Gainesville, Florida, USA in 1984. He spent two years as a post-doc at UF. He has joined the department of chemistry, Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Iran, since 1986. He held several positions such as the chairman of the department of chemistry and deputy of research, department of chemistry at IUT. From 1994-1995 he worked as a visiting professor, University of

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    Professor Shadpour Mallakpour, organic polymer chemist, graduated from chemistry department, University of Florida (UF), Gainesville, Florida, USA in 1984. He spent two years as a post-doc at UF. He has joined the department of chemistry, Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Iran, since 1986. He held several positions such as the chairman of the department of chemistry and deputy of research, department of chemistry at IUT. From 1994-1995 he worked as a visiting professor, University of Mainz, Germany, and from 2003-2004 as a visiting professor, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA. He has published more than 820 journal papers and more than 400 conference papers and has got more than 30 items of awards. The most important award to him was given for the selection of the first laureate on fundamental research, at 21st Khwarizmi International award in 2008. He is listed as the Top 1% Scientists in Chemistry in ISI Essential Science Indicators Since 2003. He was selected as academic guest of the 59th Meeting of Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry, 2009, at Lindau, Germany. He presented many lectures as an invited or keynote speaker in different national and international conferences or universities. He was a member of organizing and scientific committees for many national and international conferences. He was also the chairperson of many national and international meetings. In recent years, he has focused on preparation and characterization of polymer-based nanocomposites to be used as bioactive materials as well as adsorbents and photocatalyst for remediation technology.

    Elham Azadi received BSc in chemistry field in 2011. Also, she received MSc in organic polymer chemistry in 2014 from Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Isfahan, Iran. Currently, she is a Ph.D student in organic polymer chemistry at IUT. Her research interests include bio-materials, high-performance polymer-inorganic nanocomposites and metal oxide NPs and removal of hazardous pollutants.

    Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain, PhD is an Adjunct Professor, Academic Advisor and Director of Chemistry & EVSc Labs in the Department of Chemistry & Environmental Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, New Jersey, USA. His research is focused on the applications of Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials, Environmental Management, Analytical Chemistry and Various Industries. Dr. Hussain is the author of numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals as well as prolific author and editor of several scientific monographs and handbooks in his research areas published with ELSEVIER, Royal Society of Chemistry, John Wiley & sons, CRC, Springer etc.

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