One-pot rapid preparation of carbon-coated Co–Cu alloy composites via the gaseous detonation method

Nano Co–Cu alloy is an important catalyst, which has an important practical value in the field of the petrochemical industry. In order to prepare carbon-coated Co–Cu alloy composites efficiently and conveniently, a gaseous detonation method was explored in the present paper. The mixture of cobalt acetylacetonate and copper acetylacetonate was used as a carbon source and metal source, and the mixture gas of hydrogen–oxygen and benzene–oxygen was used as an explosion source, respectively, to study the influence of explosion source on the phase and morphology of the nanopowders. The TEM and XRD analysis results indicated that the carbon-coated Co–Cu alloy composites were composed of CNTs and carbon-coated Co–Cu/Cu nanoparticles with core–shell structure. The explosion source would affect the morphology of the carbon-coated Co–Cu alloy composites but have little impact on the phase. The higher combustion heat of combustible gas would contribute to the preparation of carbon-coated Co–Cu/Cu nanoparticles with a core–shell structure and a larger particle size. The present study provides a novel means for the preparation of carbon-coated Co–Cu alloy nanomaterials.