Ultrasmall copper nanoparticles from a hydrophobically immobilized surfactant template.

Brege, Jonathan J; Hamilton, Christopher E; Crouse, Christopher A; Barron, Andrew R · Nano Lett · 2009

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Ultrasmall copper nanoparticles are produced by N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPDA) reduction of aqueous Cu(2+) on a hydrophobically immobilized sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) surfactant template in the presence of sodium citrate at room temperature. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) act as a scaffold controlling the size of the SDBS micelle, which in turn confines a limited number of copper ions near the nanotube surface. TMPDA reduction forms copper nanoparticles as confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electron diffraction, whose size was determined by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy to be approximately 2 nm. Particles formed in the absence of the SWNT immobilizer range from 2 to 150 nm.