S. H. Tohidi - Physics Research School, NSTI, Karaj, Iran.
S. Gholamzadeh - Computer Engineering and Information Technology, Amir Kabir University, Tehran, Iran.

The co-environmental xerogel samples are prepared by hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethyl ortho-silicate (TEOS) by the sol-gel method. These components are symboled as CuO@SiO2. In this investigation, a new molar ratio of H2O/TEOS is determined to be 11.7. Also, the necessary amounts of tri-hydrated copper nitrate and penta-hydrated copper sulfate are added to the solution in such a manner that the concentration of the copper oxide in final solution reach to 10-12 wt %. After ambient drying, the xerogel samples are heated at 400, 600, and 800˚C at a slow heating rate (50°C/h). The structuralproperties are characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Brunauer, Emmett and Teller theory for specific surface area determination (BET) and Thermal Program Reduction (TPR) methods at different temperatures

Copper oxide, Nano-particles, Silica Matrix, Temperatures