Structural and optical properties of CuO layered hexagonal discs synthesized by a low-temperature hydrothermal process

Layered hexagonal discs of CuO were synthesized on a large scale via low-temperature hydrothermal growth process at 130 degrees C using copper nitrate, hexamethylenediamine and NH4OH. The detailed morphological investigations by field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) clearly revealed that the synthesized CuO structures are made by the well layer-by-layer accumulation of several sheets which arranged themselves in such a special manner that they exhibit the hexagonal discs of CuO. The detailed structural characterizations of the hexagonal CuO discs were done by high-resolution TEM and x-ray diffraction which confirmed that the synthesized structures possessing well nanocrystalline nature and monoclinic structure. The purity and composition of the synthesized products were examined using energy dispersive spectroscopy, elemental mapping and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Using UV-Vis spectroscopy at room temperature we obtained indirect and direct band gap values slightly blue shifted to the bulk values. Finally, a plausible growth mechanism has been proposed for the formation of CuO layered hexagonal discs.