Proceedings of International Conference on Applied Innovation in IT
2026/03/31, Volume 14, Issue 1, pp.591-599

Influence of Precursor Concentration on the Sol-Gel Synthesis and Characterization of Copper Oxide Nanoparticles


Rafid Mahdi Rahman and Jasim Mohammed Alzanganawee


Abstract: Copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were synthesized through a sol-gel process using copper nitrate trihydrate as the metal source and citric acid as the chelating and gel-forming agent. Two precursor concentrations, 0.1 M and 0.2 M, were employed to examine their influence on structural and surface characteristics. The gels were dried at 70 °C and calcined at 450 °C to obtain fine black CuO powders. X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of pure monoclinic CuO with average crystallite sizes of approximately 33.4 nm and 22.6 nm for the 0.1 M and 0.2 M samples, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy showed agglomerated but uniform nanostructures, and energy-dispersive spectroscopy verified elemental purity. Uv-visible spectra exhibited absorption edges near 210 nm and 191 nm, corresponding to optical band gaps that decreased slightly with concentration. FTIR spectra displayed characteristic Cu-O stretching bands between 520 and 600 cm⁻¹, confirming successful oxide formation. Zeta potential values of +10.16 mV (0.1 M) and −7.31 mV (0.2 M) indicated that increasing precursor concentration alters surface charge and reduces colloidal stability. These results demonstrate that precursor concentration is a key parameter in tuning the physicochemical behavior of CuO nanoparticles for functional applications.

Keywords: CuO Nanoparticles, Sol-Gel synthesis, Precursor concentration, XRD, FTIR, Zeta potential.

DOI: Under indexing

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