Hydrothermal Synthesis and Characterization of Copper Hydroxyphosphate Hierarchical Superstructures

The copper hydroxyphosphate nanostructured microspheres with uniform diameter have been achieved via a template-free hydrothermal synthetic route with ammonia as alkali and complexing agent. Powder x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the morphologies and structures of the products. It has been found that the morphology of the final product depends strongly on the concentrations, molar ratios of the starting reagents, and the kinds of alkali. The possible formation process of the microspheres is discussed.