Reduction of Cu2O nanocrystals: reactant-dependent influence of capping ligands and coupling between adjacent crystal planes

A systematic study of the reduction behavior of various types of uniform Cu2O nanocrystals reveals that the surface blocking effect exerted by the capping ligand on the reduction behavior of the Cu2O nanocrystals depends not only on the type of capping ligand but also on the reactant and that coupling between adjacent crystal planes occurs for Cu2O nanocrystals exposing two types of crystal planes during the reduction reactions and exerts great influence on the reduction kinetics of the involved crystal planes.