Mineralization and optical characterization of copper oxide nanoparticles using a high aspect ratio bio-template

Abstract

Organized chains of copper oxide nanoparticles were synthesized, without palladium (Pd) activation, using the M13 filamentous virus as a biological template. The interaction of Cu precursor ions with the negatively charged viral coat proteins were studied with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Discrete nanoparticles with an average diameter of 4.5 nm and narrow size distribution were closely spaced along the length of the high aspect ratio templates. The synthesized material was identified as a mixture of cubic Cu2O and monoclinic CuO. UV/Vis absorption measurements were completed and a direct optical band gap of 2.87 eV was determined using Tauc's method. This value was slightly larger than bulk, signaling quantum confinement effects within the templated materials.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 20, 2014
Source ID
10.1063/1.4898809

Entities

People

  • Elaine D Haberer
  • Mohammed Shahriar Zaman

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • National Science Foundation
  • University of California

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Electrochemical Engineering/ Fuel Cell Technologies
  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Microelectronics
  • Quantum Computing
  • Space