Fabrication of dendritic silver-coated copper powders by galvanic displacement reaction and their thermal stability against oxidation

Abstract

Two steps of wet chemical processes have been developed for the preparation of core-shell nanostructures of copper and silver, which is a facile and low cost method for the production of large quantity of dendritic powders. First step involves a galvanic displacement reaction with hydrogen evolution which is the motive force of spontaneous electrochemical reaction. To achieve the core-shell structure, silver has been coated on the dendritic copper using the galvanic displacement reaction. The dendritic silver-coated copper powders exhibit high surface-area, excellent conductivity, and good oxidation resistance. It has been found that silver-coated copper powders maintain the electrical conductivity even after annealing at 150°C for several to tens of minutes, thus it is a promising material and an alternative to pure silver powders in printed electronics application.