Sonochemical synthesis of Cu2O nanocubes for enhanced chemiluminescence applications

A facile one-step sonochemical synthesis of Cu2O nanocubes has been developed by ultrasound irradiation of copper sulfate in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone and ascorbic acid at 11. During sonication, the reaction between acoustic cavitation-generated radicals and CuSO4 produced Cu(OH)(2) intermediate which then reacted with ascorbic acid to generate Cu2O nanocubes. The products were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, HRTEM, AFM and particle size analyzer. The prepared Cu2O nanocubes were found to be very effective for enhancing chemiluminescence in the presence of luminol-H2O2 system. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.