Nano Copper Powders Synthesized by a Polymer Solution Method at Low Temperature.

Abstract

Copper (Cu) nano particles were successfully fabricated at a significantly low temperature through a simple polymer solution route. In the process, the organic-inorganic precursor sols were turned to porous gels exhibiting volume expansion during the drying process. The PVA polymer, as an organic carrier, contributed to make an atom-scale homogeneous copper precursor gel, which resulted in fully crystallized, nano-sized copper powders through a low calcination temperature of 300 °C under Ar-4%H2 atmosphere. Variations in the processing technique, such as the content of PVA and calcination temperature, affected the microstructure and crystallization behavior of the synthesized powders. The copper powder synthesized with the PVA content of 4:1 ratio showed a crystallite size of about 10 nm or less with a high surface area. In this paper, the PVA solution technique for the fabrication of a nano-sized copper powder is introduced. The effects of the PVA content and calcination conditions on the powder morphology and crystallization are also studied. The characterization of the synthesized powders is conducted by using XRD, DTA/TG, SEM and TEM.