Optical and mechanical study of size-controlled Cu particles synthesized by electrodeposition

Abstract

Optical and mechanical properties of size-controlled Cu particles (1.5 µm, 500 nm and 50 nm) fabricated by one-step electrodeposition were studied. First, surface morphology and composition were characterized by SEM and EDS, with crystal structure by TEM, SAED and XRD. Antioxidant ability of 50nm was verified by TGA. In the simple and novel synthesis process, Cu particles of 1.5 µm with polyhedron morphology were firstly synthesized. The increase of current density and addition of potassium ferrocyanide trihydrate played key roles in the grain refinement to 500 nm and 50 nm, respectively. Then, particular focus was given to the improvement of optical and mechanical properties with size reduction, by SERS, UV-Vis and nanoindentation. These properties were gradually enhanced with the decrease of particle size, and Cu particles of 50 nm show the best performance.