Time-dependent hydrothermal synthesis and self-evolution mechanism of Cu2O microcrystals

The successive and circulatory evolution of Cu2O microcrystal morphology and the reduction from Cu2O to Cu have both been investigated by carefully adjusting the hydrothermal heating time. The evolutions of the Cu2O morphology, which were from octahedrons to octahedrons, from plump-hexapods to perfect hexabranches, have been attained for the first time. The results of our work clearly demonstrate the effect of hydrothermal heating time on Cu2O microcrystal morphology without surfactant or template, with the same initial solution composition, the same solution concentration and the same temperature. In particular, the mechanism of circulatory evolution of Cu2O microcrystal morphology and that of reduction from Cu2O to Cu have both been investigated in detail.