Preparation and Characterization of CuO/MgO Nano Particles using Sol-Gel Technique

Abstract

Copper oxide CuO and Magnesium oxide MgO are considered among the most promising oxides in the current development. Nanocomposite particles NCPs of MgO-CuO were synthesized by using the sol-gel method. The copper (II) nitrate trihydrate 0.1M and Magnesium nitrate hexahydrate 0.1M solvents were mixed at a 1:1 ratio and the gel was formed at a temperature of 80 °C, then dried calcined at 500 °C for different time (3, 5, and 7 hours). The CuO/MgO particles were characterized by particle size analyzer (PZA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and apparent density. The result of x-ray diffraction proved the phases purity of the composite particles. On the other hand, FESEM images proved nanoparticles embedded in the MgO-CuO matrix with a particle size of 33.5 –63.27 nm. Moreover, the density for the above samples was 0.699, 0.721, and 0.755 g/cm3 respectively. It increases with increasing the calcined time. This stimulates the growth of crystals CuO/MgO which exhibits excellent catalytic activity for the advanced application.