By employing a thermal oxidation strategy, we have grown large area porous Cu 2O from Cu foil. CuO nanorods are grown by heating Cu which were in turn heated in an argon atmosphere to obtain a porous Cu 2O layer. The porous Cu 2O layer is superhydrophobic and exhibits red luminescence. In contrast, Cu 2O obtained by direct heating, is hydrophobic and exhibits yellow luminescence. Two more luminescence bands are observed in addition to red and yellow luminescence, corresponding to the recombination of free and bound excitons. Over all, the porous Cu 2O obtained from Cu via CuO nanorods, can serve as a superhydrophobic luminescence/phosphor material. © 2012 The Royal Society of Chemistry.