Copper oxide nanoparticles doped with lanthanum, magnesium and manganese: optical and structural characterization

Abstract

Copper oxide (Cu 2 O) is a promising semiconductor for photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications since this material has a high optical absorption coefficient and lower band gap (2.17 eV). Doped lanthanum (La), magnesium (Mg) and manganese (Mn) Cu 2 O nanoparticles (Cu 2 O Nps) were prepared by a displacement reaction. The doped and undoped Cu 2 O Nps were characterized with scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. The EDS results confirm the presence of La, Mg and Mn in the Cu 2 O Nps. The XRD results confirm the formation a single cubic phase of Cu 2 O with a cuprite structure. TEM images confirm the formation of Nps with mean diameters between 12.0 ± 6.1 and 30.8 ± 11.0 nm. Doped and undoped Nps present a narrow band gap (2.40 eV), blue shifted with respect to bulk Cu 2 O.

Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases, frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis overlapping neuropathology start in the first two decades of life in pollution exposed urbanites and brain ultrafine particulate matter and industrial nanoparticles, including Fe, Ti, Al, V, Ni, Hg, Co, Cu, Zn, Ag, Pt, Ce, La, Pr and W are key players. Metropolitan Mexico City health crisis is in progress

“…Platinum (Pt) has been increasing in MMC PM 2.5 (Morton-Bermea et al, 2014), and the increment is associated with the abrasion and deterioration of automobile catalysts; about five million vehicles in MMC use catalytic converters. The finding of lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), and praseodymium (Pr) NPs is very interesting (Xu and Qu, 2014;Sadhu et al, 2016;Danmaliki and Saleh, 2017;Chen et al, 2019Chen et al, , 2023He et al, 2019;Kumar et al, 2020;Morel et al, 2020;Guzman et al, 2022;Jubeer et al, 2023) given that these combinations of rare earth elements (REEs) are widely used in industry and are present in sunscreens, cosmetics, fiber optic cables, chemical and mechanical polishing, aircraft engines, welder's and glass blower's goggles, flints for lighters, and wood coating industry, and penetrate all biological barriers (Xu and Qu, 2014;Sadhu et al, 2016;Danmaliki and Saleh, 2017;Chen et al, 2019Chen et al, , 2023He et al, 2019;Kumar et al, 2020;Morel et al, 2020;Guzman et al, 2022;Jubeer et al, 2023). Potentially very relevant to our findings of a combination of lanthanides and magnetic NPs is the fact that ZnFe 2 O 4 nanotubes are a viable sorbent for dispersive microsolid phase extraction of the trivalent ions of rare earth elements (Chen et al, 2019) and the combination of Pr with common Mn NPs gives rise to an incoherent spin reversal due to competition between the neighboring spins undergoing antiparallel to parallel spin rotations (Sadhu et al, 2016).…”

“…The presence of lanthanides and heavy metal NPs, including Pt, Ti, Ag, Hg, Cd, Cr, Ni, and V, with a great variety of applications in material sciences, chemical industry, agriculture, biomedicine, coatings, phosphors, nanophosphors, and doped phosphorous NPs, plastics, nanofibers, nanowires, catalysts for automobile exhaust-gas treatments, oxidative coupling of methane and water-gas shift reaction and textiles, and as ignition elements in lighters and torches makes them a hazardous public health issue (Xu and Qu, 2014;Sadhu et al, 2016;Danmaliki and Saleh, 2017;Chen et al, 2019Chen et al, , 2023He et al, 2019;Kumar et al, 2020;Morel et al, 2020;Guzman et al, 2022;Jubeer et al, 2023). The study by Morel et al (2020) regarding CeNPs at the transcriptomic level, specifically affecting algal mobility, is very concerning for humans.…”

Recent Advances in Copper-Based Materials for Sustainable Environmental Applications

“…Structural characterization is performed using XRD and XPS, while morphological analysis relies on TEM and SEM. Surface area and pore size distribution are assessed through Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) measurements, and optical properties are examined using instruments like UV-Vis spectrophotometers and UV-Vis-Near IR analyzers [32]. These techniques enable the measurement of various properties, such as size and shape, which are crucial for characterizing nanomaterials.…”

“…The precipitate hence formed is annealed at 500 • C for 4 h to obtain a pure nanomaterial to enhance the crystalline quality of the synthesized powder. In another modified chemical reduction [29] method for the synthesis of Cu 2 O nanoparticles, the dopant elements, such as La, Mg, and Mn are doped while using the 20 mM ethanolic solutions of lanthanum nitrate, magnesium nitrate, and manganese nitrate, respectively [30][31][32]. Ce-doped CuO is synthesized by using the microwave irradiation method to find microstructural changes from spherical to rod-like structures with optical band gap variation from 3.63 to 3.13 eV [33].…”