Influence of Thermal Treatment on the Structural and Morphological Properties of Intrinsic and CuO:Al Doped Nanoparticles
Abstract
In this work, pure and Al-doped CuO nanocrystalline material is prepared employing the Sol-Gel method. The pure and doped samples are heated to temperatures up to 600°C. The effect of thermal treatment on both structural and morphological properties is investigated. The structural properties are studied using the XRD technique. The results show that the pure and Al-doped CuO powders have a monoclinic structure with two preferred orientations, (002) and (200). The analysis indicates a slight shift of the prevailing crystallization peaks towards higher diffraction angles due to the doping effect and the thermal treatment. It also shows that peak intensity increases with Al doping. Additionally, the impact of heat treatment on both pure CuO and CuO/Al on crystallite size, inter-planar distance, and dislocation density is further investigated. The surface morphology is investigated using the AFM technique. AFM images have shown the formation of interesting organized nanoparticles for the first time; their shape changes from semi-spherical to oval to cylindrical rods within the nanoscale dimensions. Moreover, the intrinsic nanorods are converted to nanotubes by thermal oxidation at ambient air conditions. Therefore, this study confirms the simplicity of converting metal oxide nanorods to nanotubes through thermal oxidation under ambient air conditions.
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