Novel flowerlike nanostructures consisting of Cu 2 O nanopetals were successfully synthesized by a facile wet chemical method for the first time. The synthesized products were systematically studied by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the nucleation and growth of the nanoflowers were governed by a nucleation-dissolution-recrystallization growth mechanism. It is noteworthy that the initially formed Cu 2 O nanoparticles without addition of NaOH were crucial to the growth of the final nanoarchitectures. A UV-vis spectrum was used to estimate the band gap energies of the nanoflowers. Further control experiments were also carried out to investigate the factors that impact the morphology and size of the products. It was demonstrated that the concentrations of NaOH and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) play key roles in the formation of the as-synthesized nanoflowers. By adjusting the concentration of NaOH and CTAB, temperature, and the quantity of water, Cu 2 O micrograss, nanorods, and pricky microrods can be synthesized accordingly. Our stepwise synthetic method may shed some light on the design of other well-defined complex nanostructures.

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A method for synthesizing multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) beaded with Cu2O nanospheres has been developed. In this work Cu(CH3COO)2·H2O served as the precursor and NaBH4 as the reducing agent, and the produced Cu2O nanoparticles were deposited on the MWNTs with the help of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). After increasing the ageing time, grapelike Cu2O nanospheres adhering to the MWNTs gradually came into being. The synthesized products were systematically studied by x-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. UV–vis absorption spectra were used to estimate the band gap energies of the hybrid system. The synthesis process was facile, efficient and not time-consuming. This method may shed light on integrating MWNTs with other oxide nanospheres and/or nanoparticles using a PVP medium, and lead to an exploration of the potential properties of nanocomposite hybrid materials.