Surface charge driven growth of eight-branched Cu2O Crystals
Abstract
Cu2O crystals are synthesised hydrothermally with an 8-branched morphology, which can undergo a transition to a cubic shape by increasing the reaction time. The rapid branch formation of these structures is studied over time using SEM, TEM, SAED, PXRD and TGA. The formation of Cu2+/PVP soft matter clusters is shown to play a key role in the reduction of Cu2+, the nucleation of Cu2O crystals and the rapid growth of branches along all eight equivalent <111> directions of the cubic Cu2O struc- ture, due to the presence of negatively charged hydroxyl sites on the {111} surfaces. This non-classical crystal growth mechanism, which relies on aggregation of the precursor on the crystal surface, may help us to understand the formation of many abnormal crystal morphologies.
Citation
Self , K & Zhou , W 2016 , ' Surface charge driven growth of eight-branched Cu 2 O Crystals ' , Crystal Growth & Design , vol. 16 , no. 9 , pp. 5377-5384 . https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.6b00883
Publication
Crystal Growth & Design
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1528-7483Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2016 American Chemical Society. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.6b00883
Description
KS would like to thank the University of St Andrews for the studentship, WZZ thanks EPSRC for the financial support to purchase the FEG SEM (EP/F019580/1).Collections
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