A study was carried out on the production of CuAlO2 by using 3 different production routes namely, hydrothermal synthesis, conventional solid state reaction and electrospinning process. For hydrothermal synthesis, commercially available metal salts, Cu2O powder and chemically precipitated CuO nanoparticles were used as precursors. Bulk CuAlO2 samples were prepared via solid state reaction route by ball milling and high temperature sintering of CuO and Al2O3 powders. CuAlO2 ceramic mats were synthesized by electrospinning process with the assistance of polyvinylpyrolidone, as a template polymer. Highly crystalline mesh structured fibers were obtained after sintering of polymer/equal moles of copper chloride and aluminum nitrate composite in air. In the current work, solid state reaction and electrospinning processes yielded phase pure CuAlO2 in hexagonal symmetry. On the other hand, products obtained from hydrothermal synthesis were CuO, Cu2O and Al(OOH), which did not yield CuAlO2 under current experimental conditions. Detailed qualitative X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the need of specific ionic species in the solution within a narrow temperature-composition-pH window to obtain phase pure CuAlO2 employing hydrothermal conditions.

Keywords: CuAlO2, p-TCO, Hydrothermal synthesis, Solid state reaction, Electrospinning process.