Preparation and characterization of CuO nanorods by thermal decomposition of CuC2O4 precursor

Synthesis of copper oxide (CuO) nanorods was achieved by thermal decomposition of the precursor of CuC₂O₄ obtained via chemical reaction between Cu(CH₃COO)₂·H₂O and H₂C₂O₄·2H₂O in the presence of surfactant nonyl phenyl ether (9)/(5) (NP-9/5) and NaCl flux. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) were used to characterize the structure features and chemical compositions of the as-made nanorods. The results showed that the as-prepared nanorods is composed of CuO with diameter of 30-100 nm, and lengths ranging from 1 to 3 μm. The mechanism of formation of CuO nanorods was also discussed.