title: Three-dimensional morphology control during wet chemical synthesis of porous chromium oxide spheres.
abstract: Controlling the morphological evolution in nanostructures is essential for improving their functionality, for example, in catalysis. Here, we demonstrate, using chromium oxide as a model system, that morphologies of functional binary oxide particles can be tailored by an efficient template-free synthetic approach. We construct a morphological "phase diagram" for chromium oxide spheres that shows the evolution of size and surface roughness as a function of the precursor and urea concentrations. It is notable that these chromium oxide spheres show an exceptional ability to remove azo-dye pollutant in water treatment. Thus, the porous chromium oxide spheres with very good dye absorptions are expected to be useful in alternative absorption technologies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA.
authors.forename: Lifang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Sergey V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Prikhodko
authors.forename: Juncheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Suneel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kodambaka
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Richards
mesh_terms: D002857:Chromium / Q000737:chemistry; D017608:Chromium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / Q000379:methods; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry; D016062:Porosity; D014508:Urea / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation
chemical_list: D017608:Chromium Compounds; D004396:Coloring Agents; D010087:Oxides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002857:Chromium; D014508:Urea; C023600:chromic oxide