Room temperature preparation of cuprous oxide hollow microspheres by a facile wet-chemical approach

Cuprous oxide hollow spheres have potential applications in drug-delivery carriers, biomedical diagnosis agents, and cell imaging. From a commercial point of view, the low-temperature, template-free, facile method is widely popular synthetic method for the synthesis of cuprous oxide hollow spheres. In this letter, we describe a novel facile template-free wet-chemical route to prepare crystallized cuprous oxide microspheres at room temperature. XRD patterns and SEM images revealed that pure crystallized cuprous oxide hollow microspheres were successfully obtained at room temperature. The diameter of cuprous oxide hollow sphere can be adjusted (0.7-7 μm) by concentration control of hydrazine hydrate. Generated N₂ gas bubbles in the aqueous solution, serving as “soft” templates, play a key role in the formation of hollow microspheres.