Self-assembly of a nanoflower with high surface area

A bio-inspired approach for the synthesis of flower-like copper phosphate crystals was proposed in this study. Herein, polydopamine (PDA) was applied to result in the self-assembly of crystals. The flower-like copper phosphate, composed of individual copper phosphate crystals possess self-assembled flowerlike architectures. The flower-like copper phosphate had a specific surface area of 1646.4 m2/g, much higher than irregular copper phosphate crystals of 245.3 m2/g. This method is expected to have many potential applications including catalysis science, antibacterial materials, and biological research.

UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology

SEM images of the nanoflower

UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology

Formation of PDA/Cu3(PO4)2·3H2O. a) Proposed mechanism, comprising four steps. Gray spheres indicate PDA molecules. Blue spheres indicate copper ions. Blue petals indicate the crystals of Cu3(PO4)2·3H2O. Step 1: PDA form complexes with copper ions; Step 2: forming small agglomerates with primary crystals; Step 3: PDA bonding with primary agglomerates; Step 4: continuous growth. b) fledglingPDA/Cu3(PO4)2·3H2O flowers (concentration of dopamine: 3 mg/L); c) grown PDA/Cu3(PO4)2·3H2O nanoflowers (the concentration of dopamine: 30 mg/L).

Status
Archived
Research Area
Membrane Material Development
Phone number
+61 2 9385 6092
Email
g.leslie@unsw.edu.au
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Vicki Chen

Prof. Yatao Zhang

Duan, L., Wang, H., Hou, J., Zhang, Y. and Chen, V., 2015. A facile, bio-inspired synthetic route toward flower-like copper phosphate crystals with high specific surface area. Materials Letters, 161, pp.601-604.