One-step hydrothermal synthesis of Ag/Cu2O heterogeneous nanostructures over Cu foil and their SERS applications

Abstract

In this paper, Ag/Cu₂O heterogeneous nanostructured films (HNFs) were prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method. It involved only two materials, AgNO₃ and Cu foil, in the aqueous solution to form Ag/Cu₂O HNF. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to characterize the Ag/Cu₂O films. Ag nanoparticles and Cu₂O nanocubes were formed by redox reactions and the Ag nanoparticles deposited on the Cu₂O nanocubes via electrostatic attraction. The obtained Ag/Cu₂O HNF was found to be a good candidate for SERS application.