Narrow Results

Hierarchical Cu₂O nanostructures have been successfully fabricated on a large scale using copper acetate and glucose as starting reactants, CTAB as an additive via a microwave-assisted process. The influences of CTAB dosage and reaction time on the morphology of the products were investigated. The resulting Cu₂O nanostructures were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). FESEM images show that the Cu₂O nanostructures are microsphere, which are composed of nanoparticles. The concentration of CTAB plays a key role in the growth of Cu₂O nanostructures under experimental conditions. The possible formation mechanism of these hierarchical Cu₂O nanostructures has been proposed. Meanwhile, the catalytic performances of these Cu₂O microspheres for thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) were investigated using DSC. The results revealed that Cu₂O have a great influence on the thermal decomposition of AP. The additions of Cu₂O powders lower the high decomposition temperature of AP.