P-type octahedral Cu2O particles with exposed {111} facets and superior CO sensing properties

P-type Cu2O nanostructures with an interesting morphological evolution (from cube, truncated octahedral to octahedral) were realized simply by adjusting the amounts of PVP used. Octahedral Cu2O particles exposing only the {111} facets exhibit a surprisingly competitive sensing activity to CO gases in relatively low working temperature due to high-energy surfaces, large percentage of surface copper atoms density and dangling bonds compared with cube Cu2O with (100) facets and truncated octahedral Cu2O with (100) and (111) facets. Our findings may provide an opportunity to explore a simple, efficient, cost-effective and promising sensing/catalysis activity materials in gas sensors, gas catalysis and photo-catalysis. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.