Production of Spherical Electrolytic Copper Powder from the Solution Containing Polyethyleneimine

Abstract

It was investigated whether the spherical electrolytic copper powder could be electrolyzed by adding polyethyleneimine ( PEI ) in the electrolytic solution. In order to identify the optimum electrolysis conditions for the electrodeposition of spherical copper powder, we investigated the e ff ect of molecular weight of PEI, the amount of PEI added, the current density, and the cathode material on the morphology of electrolytic copper powder. The electrodeposited copper powder was analyzed with a scanning electron microscope, a laser di ff raction scattering particle size distribution measuring device, and an X – ray di ff ractometer. It was found that the spherical copper powder can be obtained by electrolysis at 3000A·m − 2 scraping copper powder every 10 to 60s in solution containing 0.126mol·dm − 3 Cu 2+ , 0.5mol·dm − 3 free H 2 SO 4 and − 3 PEI with average molecular weight 10000. ［ doi:10.2320 jinstmet.J2021032