Study on the Synthesis Mechanism of Cuprous Oxide/Rectorite Nanocomposites by Polyol Method

Cuprous oxide(Cu
₂
O)/rectorite nanocomposites were prepared through polyol method by using cupric acetate complex as precursor of Cu, aiming to utilize the iron species in the clay material and hydrogen peroxide derived from Cu
₂
O to form a novel immobilized Fenton system. The obtained nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy analysis. The results indicated that Cu
₂
O exist in at least three forms: Cu
₂
O adsorbed at surface, grew at the edge of layers, and plugged in montmorillonite-like layers of rectorite. The interaction mechanism between Cu
₂
O and rectorite was that the Cu-O-Si bridging bond was formed by silicon-oxygen group(SiO
₄
) and Cu
₂
O.