Preparation and Characterization of CuO nanoparticles and CuO/Al2O3 Catalyst by Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

CuO is a potential candidate for magnetic storage devices, solar energy transfer, sensors, and super capacitors and especially it acts as a good catalyst in some of the chemical reactions. In this research copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles wereprepared by sol gel method. In this method CuCl2.2H2O was used as precursor obtained CuO nanoparticles were further supported by alumina to produce copper oxide support on alumina catalyst, the copper oxide nanoparticle and the catalyst were characterized using different analytical techniques such as titrimetric method, x-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the catalyst was applied in the synthesis of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS). The obtained results indicated the formation of copper oxide nanoparticles and copper oxide supported in alumina catalyst in high quality, also the catalyst increased the rate of formation of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS).