Facile One-Pot Synthesis of Uniquely Designed Au-Cu₂O Nanocomposites for Effective Catalytic Degradation of Azo Dyes

In the study of metal-semiconductor nanocomposites, the Au-Cu2O system is of significant interest because it can give rise to a variety of hybrid designs with pronounced activity for catalytic applications. In this work, a facile one-pot synthetic strategy was developed to prepare Au-Cu2O nanocomposites with a unique core-shell nanoflower configuration, where a cluster of tiny Au nanoparticles constitutes the core, while larger cube-like Cu2O nanoparticles surround this core in a petal-like arrangement. Unlike previously published procedures that rely on two-pot synthesis routes to generate the Au-Cu2O hybrid, the one-pot synthesis protocol presented in this work is a more straightforward and less laborious approach that does not require a separate pre-synthesis step. Furthermore, the synthesis can be conveniently performed at ambient conditions using nontoxic reagents. When tested as catalysts, the uniquely designed Au@Cu2O nanoflowers were found to effectively catalyze the borohydride-mediated degradation of synthetic azo dyes (methyl orange and congo red). The hybrid exhibited superior catalytic activity relative to pristine Cu2O, underscoring the significance of creating a nanocomposite.