Green synthesis of 2D CuO nanoleaves (NLs) and its application for the reduction of p-nitrophenol

This article reports green synthesis of 2D CuO nanoleaves (NLs) using the amino acid L-serine and NaOH by microwave heating method. The aminoacid acts as a complexing/capping agent in the synthesis of CuO NLs. This method results in the formation of self assembled 2D CuO NLs having an average length and width of similar to 300 nm and similar to 66 nm respectively. 2D CuO NLs are composed of CuO primary single crystal nanoparticles. CuO NLs were characterized by XRD, TEM, SAED and FT-IR and UV-visible spectroscopy. The CuO NLs act as an efficient catalyst in the conversion of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in aqueous medium. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.