In this work, Cu2O nanoparticles (NPs) with quasi-spherical and bookmark-like morphologies were successfully synthesized via a new facile solution method. The morphologies of products were characterized to show porous surfaces and the size is as small as approximately 20-50 nm. Given the special morphology, Cu2O NPs exhibited superior gas sensitivity to either ethanol or acetone vapors and strong adsorption abilities and high degradation activities for methyl orange under visible-light irradiation. The investigation provided not only a way of synthesizing Cu2O particles with dozens of nanoscale, but also a way of improving its gas sensitivity and catalytic degradation ability. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.