Low-Temperature Oleylamine-Mediated Hydrothermal Synthesis of Copper Nanowires Involving Ascorbic Acid

Abstract

The low temperature hydrothermal synthesis of copper nanowires in the presence of oleylamine and ascorbic acid has been investigated. It was found that ascorbic acid can be effectively used as a “soft” reducing agent in the preparation of one-dimensional copper nanostructures. By varying the synthesis conditions, it is possible to modify their microstructural characteristics, as evidenced by the shift in the characteristic absorption band observed via UV–Vis spectrophotometry. X-ray powder diffraction confirmed the formation of nanowires with the target crystalline structure and an average coherent scattering domain size ranging from 25.7 to 28.8 nm. The microstructural features of the obtained materials were investigated using scanning and transmission electron microscopy, as well as atomic force microscopy. In particular, it was shown that decreasing the synthesis temperature from 110 to 90°C and increasing the oleic acid content in the reaction mixture led to the formation of copper nanowires with an average diameter of approximately 70.2 nm and an aspect ratio of about 285.