Preparation Of Nano Carbon And Cu₂O Composite Particles And Their Photocatalytic Performance

Nano carbon is an ideal reinforcement additive for composites because of itsinimitable structure and outstanding properties. However, because of their strong Vander Waals’ forces, CNTs can not be dispersed uniformly in matrix, and the interfacialadhesion is poor, which limits their application. In this paper, carbon nanotubes(CNTs)-Cu2O and CNTs/rGO-Cu2O composite system were fabricated by usingsynthesis method The synthesized strategy and their photocatalytic performance werealso analyzed.The Co catalysts supported on SiO2nano-particles were prepared by chemicalco-deposition. MWNTs are synthesized by Co catalytic decomposition of the mixedgas of C2H2/N2at740℃. The main factors which affect the yield of carbonnanotubes (CNTs) such as temperature, time and the pH value have been researched indetail. The samples of MWNTs are purified by nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid. Themorphology of crude MWNTs is observed by transmission electron microscopy. Alsothe samples of MWNTs which have been purified are characterized by TEM and byX-ray. The results of the experiments prove that the high quality and high yield can beproduced by this method.Gelatin was pre-coated on the carbon nanotubes to introduce the functionalgroups. With the functionalized CNTs, cuprous oxide/carbon nanotubes superfinespheres were fabricated in situ by solution method, and the samples werecharacterized by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. It is showed thatcarbon nanotubes were implanted in the cuprous oxide spheres with the diameterranging from several nanometers to one micronmeter. The reaction mechanism of thesynthesis of Cu2O/CNTs composites was discussed, and it was primitively figured outthat the gelatin plays a role as a bridge between CNTs and Cu2+. Cu2+was capturedby gelatin and deposited on the surface of CNTs. The effect of the dropping speed ofNaOH and the ratio of mass between gelatin and CNTs on the size and the uniformityof the Cu2O/CNTs composite spheres was also discussed.CNTs/rGO sphere decorated with CuxO nanoparticles composite wassuccessfully synthesized by spray drying and post-calcinating method. Scanningelectron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy confirmed that CNTs/rGOformed a spherical micrometer structure and CuxO (x=1or2) nanoparticles were decorated on their surface. The effects of decomposition temperature, the proportionof carbon nanotubes/graphene oxides and mass content of carbon nanotubes/grapheneon the microstructure and photocatalytic activity were investigated. The experimentalresults indicated that CNTs/rGO sphere decorated with CuxO nanoparticles enhancedphotocatalytic performance as well as simplified technological process and improvedproduction efficiency.