The effect of precursor concentration on the crystallinity synchronization of synthesized copper nanoparticles

Abstract

Highly crystalline copper nanoparticles are formed with Chemical Reduction Method (CRM) by the application of an effective capping agent and changing the precursor concentration. In this study, copper sulphate pentahydrate is used as a precursor which is reduced by ascorbic acid. The synthesized nanoparticles are designated as P, Q and R. These are systematically characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), UV–Visible Spectroscopy (UV), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermo-gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). XRD ensured that the crystalline phase gradually changes from 79% to 96% with the change in precursor concentration from 0.08 M to 0.10 M. UV analysis shows that due to the high conductivity of copper nanoparticles might have caused the redshift at 630–634 nm. TGA show the energy of activation (Ea) of P is 22.90 KJ/mol which is more reactive than Q and R. An excellent arrangement in XRD and TEM confirms the average particle size near about 40 nm, with consists of crystal plane (111), (200) and (220). SAED confirmed the particles are elongated with the miller indices of the synthesized nanomaterials on (111), (200) and (220) planes. The EDS confirmed the purity of nanomaterials up to 86%. The adopted process may be employed to synthesize and synchronize the crystallinity of other metal nanoparticles.