Morphology control of Cu and Cu₂O through electrodeposition on conducting polymer electrodes

Here, using a conducting polymer, polyaniline (PANI), membrane as the working electrode, we demonstrate the growth and morphology control of Cu and Cu2O through the electrodeposition technique, which is not accessible by using conventional ITO electrodes. The oxidation state of the copper species electrodeposited on PANI surfaces can be manipulated from zero-valent copper (Cu) to cuprous oxide (Cu2O) simply by changing the copper precursors, where Cu2O can be obtained from copper salts of weak acid (copper acetate, copper gluconate), and copper salts of strong acid such as copper sulfate and copper nitrate lead to Cu. Besides, the morphology evolution of Cu and Cu2O has been carefully studied by time-dependent scanning electron microscopy. We believe this oxidation state selection (cuprous oxide or copper) on conducting polymer surfaces can be applied in the synthesis of other materials.