Effects of Reactant Mixing Mode on Dispersibility and Particle Size Stability of Cuprous Oxide Particles

Spherical Cu2O particles were prepared under high reaction concentration and without any additives using CuSO4, NaOH, and glucose as raw materials. The products were characterized by XRD, SEM and smileview software. The effects of reactant mixing modes on dispersibility and size stability of Cu2O particles were investigated. It is found that when Cu(OH)2 was prepared by slowly mixing NaOH and CuSO4 solutions at first step, and then reduced by adding glucose solution at second step, Cu2O particles were formed by so―called rapid nucleation― slow growth model, and well―dispersed spherical Cu2O particles with stable particle size were prepared. The good dispersibility of Cu2O particles can be explained by the slow growth of Cu2O particles, which allows the soft agglomeration of Cu2O particles to be broken by stirring and prevented from becoming hard agglomeration through chemical bond between crystal nuclei. The good particle size stability can be explained by good thermal stability of Cu(OH)2 which allows the precursor to keep oneness during heating up and prevents the renucleation in the reduction.