Nanostructured carbon and copper oxide: Synchronous and facile synthesis from a single source and multidimensional applications

Carbon nanoparticles (C-NPs) and CuO nanorods (CuO-NRs) are important materials with applications in various fields. In this work, a cost-effective and rapid approach for synthesizing C-NPs, CuO-NRs, and CuO/C nanocomposites using copper(II) acetate hydrate (CAH) as a single precursor was developed. CAH serves as a source of both C and CuO. The as-synthesized C-NPs were hydrophilic and also dispersible in non-aqueous media. They exhibited excitation-dependent and -independent photoluminescence properties. The C-NPs and CuO-NRs were prepared by thermal decomposition and acid treatment, and the CuO/C nanocomposites were prepared using straightforward co-crystallization techniques. The photocatalytic effectiveness of the prepared composites for the decomposition of methylene blue (MB), non-photosensitizing Congo red (CR), and rhodamine 6G (R6G) dyes was evaluated under visible light. Among the composites, CUOC-2 (with a C/CuO weight ratio of 1:0.75) displayed the highest activity. Specifically, in the presence of CUOC-2, 98.54%, 94.31%, and 76.01% of MB, CR, and R6G were degraded within reaction times of 70, 40, and 70 min, respectively. The combination of C and CuO makes the composites effective photocatalysts. In addition, the nanocomposites demonstrated excellent electrocatalytic properties, including high oxygen/hydrogen evolution reaction (OER/HER) activities. The as-synthesized C-NPs, CUOC-2 nanocomposites, and CuO-NRs required 323, 270, and 249 mV for HER and 268, 378, and 462 for OER to reach a current response of 10 mA/cm², indicating that they are promising catalysts for green hydrogen production via water splitting.