Facile synthesis of large area porous Cu2O as super hydrophobic yellow-red phosphors

Abstract

By employing a thermal oxidation strategy, we have grown large area porous Cu₂O from Cu foil. CuO nanorods are grown by heating Cu which were in turn heated in an argon atmosphere to obtain a porous Cu₂O layer. The porous Cu₂O layer is superhydrophobic and exhibits red luminescence. In contrast, Cu₂O obtained by direct heating, is hydrophobic and exhibits yellow luminescence. Two more luminescence bands are observed in addition to red and yellow luminescence, corresponding to the recombination of free and bound excitons. Over all, the porous Cu₂O obtained from Cu via CuO nanorods, can serve as a superhydrophobic luminescence/phosphor material.