Alkylamine-mediated synthesis and optical properties of copper nanopolyhedrons

Abstract

An alkylamine-mediated hydrothermal synthesis method is proposed for fabrication of copper (Cu) nanopolyhedrons (including tetrahedral and cubic shapes) with well-defined facets and controllable size by modulating the coordination chemistry of a sole ligand (hexadecylamine, HDA) or dual ligands [HDA and octadecylamine (ODA)]. The size of the nanopolyhedrons increases with decreasing HDA/ODA mole ratio. Both the nanocubes and nanotetrahedrons are single-crystal structures, bound by six {100} or four {111} facets, respectively. The complexation reaction temperature plays a vital role in determining the final morphology of the as-prepared nanocrystals. High complexation reaction temperature is suitable for generation of single-crystalline Cu nuclei and their further growth into nanocubes and nanotetrahedrons, while low temperature leads to formation of multitwinned crystal seeds that finally develop into nanowires. Moreover, the probable aggregative growth is discussed to explain the growth mechanism of the Cu nanopolyhedrons. In addition, double surface plasmon resonance peaks are observed in the absorbance spectra for the Cu nanopolyhedrons with relatively large size. Finitedifference time-domain simulations reveal that the experimental absorption spectra are the superposition of those for nanocubes and nanotetrahedrons in different proportions. The peak at about 600 nm in the experimental spectra mainly originates from the Cu nanocubes, while the absorption from 750 to 950 nm derives from the Cu nanotetrahedrons. These angular Cu nanocubes and nanotetrahedrons may have potential applications in surface-enhanced Raman scattering and catalysis.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

The Growth of Cu Nanostructures Induced by Au Nanobipyramids

“…However, if the deposition rate is much higher than the migration rate, Cu atoms migration cannot produce a distinct difference between two ends resulting in the formation of symmetrical Cu nanorods. Inevitably, when the reduction rate is higher than deposition rate, Cu atoms would self-nucleate, leading to the formation of Cu nanowires, nanotetrahedrons or nanocubes, as previously reported [8]. At present our experimental results show that the highly purified production of Cu nanorods is still a challenge due to the large lattice mismatch between Au and Cu, which limits the study on the optical properties and practical applications based on the Cu nanorods.…”

“…Specially, due to the unique and tunable optical property originated from the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), great effort has been made on the size and shape control of Au and Ag nanoparticles through chemical, physical and biological methods [5][6][7]. In recent years, in addition to Au and Ag, it is found that anisotropic or isotropic Cu nanostructures also exhibit tunable LSPR property in visible wavelength region [8]. Compared with Au and Ag nanostructures, Cu nanostructures exhibit high electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, malleability and ductility [9].…”

“…In our previous work [8], we have demonstrated that single-crystal nanocubes and nanotetrahedrons could be produced in an emulsion by reducing Cu 2+ with glucose in the presence of hexadecylamine (HDA) that serves as a capping agent for the Cu {200} surface. Besides, penta-twinned nanowires could also be synthesized by one-step method through changing the parameters.…”

Purification of Copper Nanowires To Prepare Flexible Transparent Conductive Films with High Performance

“…The TEM (Figure S2c) and SEM images (inset of Figure 2b) of Cu nanotetrahedrons demonstrated that they were bound by four {111} facets. 44 In addition, the SAED pattern of a Cu nanocube as shown in Figure 3b, viewed along the [110] zone axis, reveals that the Cu nanocubes are single crystals with six identical {100} facets. 44 Figure 3c shows the schematic models of the Cu nanotetrahedron and the Cu nanocube, respectively.…”

Fast Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Copper Nanowires as Reusable High-Performance Transparent Conductive Electrode

“…The decrease in transmittance value was due to the presence of NPs in NWs which act as the center of light scattering. In addition, they do not contribute to the overall electrical conductivity due to their isotropic shape with poor connection on the percolating nanowire network [51,62,63]. Furthermore, it is very important to study the chemical stability of Cu NWs film.…”