Hydrothermal Synthesis of CuO Nanoparticles under Supercritical Water Condition (Effect of Reactor Size and Product Calcination

In the past few years, there has been an increasing interest toward the application of nano-related technologies in chemistry and chemical technology. Attempts have been especially made on development of nano-catalysts, whose huge surface area offers a great enhancement of performance over conventional mesoporous materials.Copper (II) oxide nanoparticle is one of the most prominent nano-catalysts for treatment of automobile exhaust gases [1]. It also has found application in formulations of heat transfer nanofluids [2]. As for synthesis of CuO nanoparticles, numerous preparation routs have been proposed including sol-gel, LVCC, etc [1-2]. Unfortunately, most of the suggested methods either involves a complicated pathway or are not appropriate for large scale production. The current communication describes a supercritical hydrothermal method for production of CuO nanoparticles; scale up of the employed reactor, and a combined hydrothermal-calcination route which fulfilled both objectives of large production rate and a high quality product.