SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF COPPER NANOPARTICLES (Cu NPs) BY METHOD POLIOL ASSISTED VIA MICROWAVE (MW)

Abstract

This paper describes the synthesis of copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs) by the microwaveassisted polyol method (MW) from a synthesized copper acetate precursor, Cu(Ac)2. The precursor was synthesized using the Schlenk with technique conventional heating under reflux in a time greater than 8 hours. The reagents that were used to prepare Cu NPs were Ethylene glycol (EG) as solvent, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as dispersing agent, ascorbic acid (AA) and citric acid (AC) as reducing agents. The synthesis process was carried out in an MW furnace adapted for chemical synthesis. Three variables were evaluated to observe the influence on the size of the nanoparticles, such as the AA/ Cu(Ac)2 mole ratio, the molecular weight of the PVP 10KD, 40KD and the type of procedure. The Precursor and the Cu NPs were characterized with UV-Vis, DRX FTIR-ATR and FRX techniques. Finally, the deconvolution of surface plasmon characteristic of the Cu NPs in the UV-Vis spectrum was performed and, by means of factorial analysis, grain size trends were estimated from wavelength and bandwidth of the resulting functions of the deconvolution.