Hierarchically macro/mesostructured porous copper oxide: facile synthesis, characterization, catalytic performance and electrochemical study of mesoporous copper oxide monoliths

Abstract

Hierarchically macro/meso structured porous copper-oxide monoliths with and without additives (dextran, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene and silica nanoparticles) were successfully synthesized via a facile sol–gel route and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM/FESEM), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), the Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) adsorption technique and FT-IR study. The results obtained reveal that the effect of additives has enhanced the specific surface area from 0.558 m² g⁻¹ to 229.5 m² g⁻¹ and varied the pore size from 8 μm to 39 nm. Furthermore, the hierarchically porous copper-oxide materials have shown excellent catalytic activity towards the wet oxidation of phenol and electrocatalytic performance of mesoporous copper oxide (mpCuO) against p-nitrophenol, demonstrating the significance of the porous nature of copper-oxide monoliths.