Sonochemical fabrication of Cu2O@C/graphene nanohybrid with a hierarchical architecture

Abstract A three-dimensional Cu 2 O@C/graphene nanohybrid hierarchical sphere-like architecture has been successfully synthesized by a sonochemical method. The as-prepared nanocomposite has been characterized using various techniques including powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, field emission transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transmission infrared spectrometry. Secondary big hierarchical Cu 2 O@C spheres (diameter of ~200 nm) consist of primary small Cu 2 O@C spheres (diameter of 5–10 nm), which are uniformly distributed on the graphene surface. In the primary small Cu 2 O@C sphere, amorphous carbon is formed by the oxidation–reduction reaction between 1-aminopyrene and copper(II) acetate in the sonochemical process. Our facile sonochemical method may apply to the preparation of other metal oxide/graphene hierarchical nanohybrids.