Biogenic-Mediated Synthesis of Mesoporous Cu2O/CuO Nano-Architectures of Superior Catalytic Reductive towards Nitroaromatics

Mosaed S Alhumaimess; Amr A Essawy; Mahmoud M Kamel; Ibrahim Hotan Alsohaimi; Hassan M A Hassan

doi:10.3390/nano10040781

Biogenic-Mediated Synthesis of Mesoporous Cu₂O/CuO Nano-Architectures of Superior Catalytic Reductive towards Nitroaromatics

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2020 Apr 18;10(4):781. doi: 10.3390/nano10040781.

Authors

Mosaed S Alhumaimess¹, Amr A Essawy^{1

2}, Mahmoud M Kamel¹, Ibrahim Hotan Alsohaimi¹, Hassan M A Hassan^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Chemistry Department, College of Science, Jouf University, P.O. Box 2014, Sakaka 42421, Saudi Arabia.
² Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Fayoum University, Fayoum 63514, Egypt.
³ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Suez University, Suez 43511, Egypt.

Abstract

Cu₂O/CuO nano-architectures were prepared by biogenic-mediated synthesis using pomegranate seeds extract as the reducing/stabilizing mediator during an aqueous solution combustion process of the Cu²⁺ precursor. The fabricated Cu₂O/CuO nanocomposite were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and nitrogen sorption. Nitrobenzene (NB) was applied a probe to test the catalytic activities of the fabricated Cu₂O/CuO nanocomposite. The results indicated that pomegranate seeds extract (PSE) manifest Cu₂O/CuO NPs of tiny particle size, larger pore volume and greater surface area compared to the bulky CuO synthesized in the absence of PSE. The surface area and total pore volume of Cu₂O/CuO NPs were 20.1 m² g^-1 and 0.0362 cm³ g^-1, respectively. The FESEM image shows the formation of broccoli-like architecture. The fabricated Cu₂O/CuO nanocomposite possesses surprising activity towards the reduction of nitro compounds in the presence of NaBH₄ into amino compounds with high conversion (94%). The reduction process was performed in water as a green solvent. Over four consecutive cycles the resulting nanocomposite also exhibits outstanding stability. In addition, the resulting Cu₂O/CuO nanocomposite suggested herein may encourage scientists to start preparing more cost-effective catalysts for marketing instead of complicated catalysts.

Keywords: Cu2O/CuO nanoparticles; aniline; biogenic synthesis; nitrobenzene reduction; pomegranate seeds extract.