Nanoparticulate copper - Routes towards oxidative stability

A modified polyol-based reduction method in ethylene glycol that incorporates poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP, Mav = 10000; 40000; 55000) as polymeric anti-agglomerant alongside a reducing additive (N2H4·H2O, NaBH4, NaH2PO2·H2O) has been employed to investigate the influence of synthetic parameters on the purity, morphology and stability of an array of polymer-coated copper nanoparticles. While data point to ethylene glycol being capable of acting as a reductant in this system, the use of NaH2PO2·H2O as co-reductant in tandem with the presence of PVP (Mav 40000) has rendered nanoparticles with a mean size distribution of 9.6 ± 1.0 nm that exhibit stability towards oxidation for several months. These data allow us to probe fundamentally how oxidatively stable nano-copper might be achieved