Simple One-Step Synthesis of Uniform Disperse Copper Nanoparticles
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Simple One-Step Synthesis of Uniform Disperse Copper Nanoparticles Chunwei Wu, Brian P. Mosher and Taofang Zeng The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, U.S.A. ABSTRACT In this paper, we describe a simple and rapid solution-phase chemical reduction method with no inert gas protection, for preparing stable copper nanoparticle colloid with average particle size of 3.4 nm and narrow size distribution. In our synthesis route, ascorbic acid, natural vitamin C (VC), serves as both a reducing agent and an antioxidant to reduce copper salt precursor and effectively prevent the general oxidation process occurring to the newborn nanoparticles. XRD and UV/vis confirm the formation of pure face-centered cubic (fcc) copper nanoparticles and the excellent antioxidant ability of ascorbic acid. INTRODUCTION Syntheses and potential applications of metal nanoscale species have been intensively studied during the past two decades, due to their novel and unique optical, electric, magnetic and catalytic properties [1-5] in association with the nanometer scale dimension. The intrinsic properties of metal nanoparticles are mainly determined by size, shape, composition, crystallinity, and structure [3]. Particles in the range 1-10 nm are predicted to have unusual electronic properties, which may lead to new technologies based on advanced materials, e.g., quantum dots in the miniaturization of electronic devices [6]. Among the various metal nanoparticles, Au, Ag, Pt, Pd and Cu are the most commonly studied. Copper nanoparticles have shown massive potential applications, such as lubricants [7], heat transfer nanofluids [8, 9], catalysts [10], biosensor [11] electronic materials [12, 13], and optical devices [14]. As catalysts, compared with noble metals such as Ru, Pd, and Pt, which are usually expensive and hazardous, copper particles have the advantages of being inexpensive and environmentally benign. Copper particles are widely used in a variety of chemical processes, for example, water-gas shift reaction, the butanol dehydrogenation reaction and carbon monoxide oxidation, various organic syntheses such as the condensation of aromatic halides, synthesis of cyclic amines and methylamines, and thermal cracking of plastics [10]. Copper nanoparticles also show potential for biosensors [11]; because the graphite-like carbon film electrodes with dispersed copper nanoparticles are highly electro-catalytic with regard to the electro-oxidation of glucose, copper nanoparticles are copasetic for glucose detection. Furthermore, due to the plasmon surface resonance, copper nanoparticles exhibit enhanced nonlinear optical properties resulting in many applications in optical devices and nonlinear optical materials such as optical switches or photochromic glasses. Another one of the most promising application areas for copper nanoparticles is heat transfer nanofluids. A study reported by researchers from the Argonne National Laboratory has shown that a “nanofluid” consisting of co
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