The recent high demand for inexpensive and renewable energy resources has stimulated the design of conductive materials, such as cuprous oxide nanoparticles. The advantage of these nanoparticles is that different sizes and shapes can alter their conductivity. One major downfall of these cuprous oxide nanoparticles is that they can easily oxidize to cupric oxides. To prevent oxidation, graphene oxide was used to better preserve the nanoparticles in the Cu2O state. The objectives were to maintain shape control, stabilize the nanoparticles by preventing oxidation, and explore how the size and shape dependence affect the photocatalytic properties. By mixing the nanoparticles with an organic dye, the photocatalytic properties could be measured with time using ultraviolet�visible spectroscopy. Using this method, we were able to find an optimal size and shape for the nanoparticles. Future work includes using Cu2O nanoparticles as light harvesting photocatalyst materials for solar cell and water splitting applications.

Artificial photocatalyst: Cuprous oxide/graphene nanohybrids

245th National Meeting (2013)

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