Copper Salts Mediated Morphological Transformation of Cu(2)O from Cubes to Hierarchical Flower-like or Microspheres and Their Supercapacitors Performances

Monodisperse Cu(2)O of different microstructures, such as cubes, flower-like, and microspheres, have been extensively synthesized by a simple polyol reduction method using different copper salts, i.e. (Cu(acac)(2), Cu(OH)(2), and Cu(Ac)(2)·H(2)O). The effects of copper salts on the morphology of Cu(2)O were investigated in details through various characterization methods, including X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and UV-Vis absorption spectra. The effects of morphology on the electrochemical properties were further studied. Among the different structures, Cu(2)O with the microspheric morphology shows the highest specific capacitance and the best cycling stability compared with those of the other two structures, thus bear larger volume charge during the electrochemical reaction due to the microspheres of small nanoparticles.