Nanoscale shape and size control of cubic, cuboctahedral, and octahedral Cu-Cu2O core-shell nanoparticles on Si(100) by one-step, templateless, capping-agent-free electrodeposition.

Cu-Cu2O core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) of different shapes over an extended nanosize regime of 5-400 nm have been deposited on a H-terminated Si(100) substrate by using a simple, one-step, templateless, and capping-agent-free electrochemical method. By precisely controlling the electrolyte concentration [CuSO4 x 5H2O] below their respective critical values, we can obtain cubic, cuboctahedral, and octahedral NPs of different average size and number density by varying the deposition time under a few seconds (<6 s). Combined glancing-incidence X-ray diffraction and depth-profiling X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies show that these NPs have a crystalline core-shell structure, with a face-centered cubic metallic Cu core and a simple cubic Cu2O shell with a CuO outerlayer. The shape control of Cu-Cu2O core-shell NPs can be understood in terms of a diffusion-limited progressive growth model under different kinetic conditions as dictated by different [CuSO4 x 5H2O] concentration regimes.