Synthesis of Cu/Cu2O nanoparticles by laser ablation in deionized water and their annealing transformation into CuO nanoparticles.

Nano-structured Cupric Oxide (CuO) has been synthesized using pulsed laser ablation of pure copper in water using Q-switched pulsed laser beam of 532 nm wavelength and, 5 nanosecond pulse duration and laser pulse energy of 100 mJ/pulse. In the initial unannealed colloidal suspension, the nanoparticles of Copper (Cu) and Cuprious oxide (Cu2O) were identified. Further the suspension was dried and annealed at different temperatures and we noticed the product (Cu/Cu2O) was converted predominantly into CuO at annealing temperature of 300 degrees C for 3 hours. As the annealing temperature was raised from 300 to 900 degrees C, the grain sizes of CuO reduced to the range of 9 to 26 nm. The structure and the morphology of the prepared samples were investigated using X-ray diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscope. Photoluminescence and UV absorption spectrometry studies revealed that the band gap and other optical properties of nano-structured CuO were changed due to post annealing. Fourier transform spectrometry also confirmed the transformation of Cu/Cu2O into CuO.