TITLE:
Facile, Green Synthesis of Large Single Crystal Copper Micro and Nanoparticles with Ascorbic Acid and Gum Arabic
AUTHORS:
Preston B. Landon, Alexander H. Mo, Carlos T. Ramos, Jose J. Gutierrez, Ratnesh Lal
KEYWORDS:
Copper; Green Synthesis; Microparticles; Nanoparticles; Gum Arabic; Ascorbic Acid
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.3 No.5,
September
24,
2013
ABSTRACT: Large single crystal
colloidal copper particles with diameters between 0.5 - 2 μm were created using a green synthesis process. The
process used ascorbic acid to reduce Schweizer’s reagent created in situ using copper salts in the presence
of various concentrations of gum arabic. The Schweizer’s reagents were created
by varying the concentrations of ammonium hydroxide and copper nitrate
solutions, copper hydroxide, or copper sulfate. The pH of the solution was controlled
by the addition of ascorbic acid. Particle formation was favored at high
temperature using copper sulfate at pH values ranging from 7.5 to 9, while the
optimal formation occurred at a pH value of 8.5. At high concentrations, copper
particle formation was found to occur from the aggregation of smaller particles
which continued to nucleate once aggregated, and this resulted in the creation
of globular particles and large aggregates of micron-sized particles. The addition of gum arabic resulted
in the creation of large single crystal particles that did not aggregate. SEM
was used to observe the effect of increasing gum arabic concentrations and EDX
was used to confirm the elemental purity of the particles.