Natural citric acid assisted synthesis of CuO nanoparticles: Evaluation of structural, optical, morphological properties and colloidal stability for gas sensor applications

In the present research, natural ingredient lemon juice was selected as a fuel to prepare nanoparticles under combustion method. The structural properties of nanophase copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) synthesized by a natural citric acid aided combustion process were studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). According to the SEM and TEM images, the manufactured product is made up of spherical nanoparticles with a limited size distribution. According to the XRD pattern, the average crystallite size of monoclinic structured CuO nanoparticles was 10.4 nm for as-prepared samples and 20.5 nm for annealed samples. The zeta potential value confirms the negative surface charge of the samples and the values show the excellent stability (-58.1 mV) for as-prepared sample and the good particles stability (-38.3 mV) was exhibited for heat treated sample. The optical band gap of CuO nanoparticles is 2.01 eV and it decreases to 1.28 eV under heat treatment. The sensitivity and selectivity of the samples were tested under different operating temperatures (OT) and different gas concentrations (GC). Recovery-response time plots confirm that the CuO nanoparticles are promising materials for gas sensor fabrications.