Abstract
Highly uniform copper dendrites were successfully prepared in large quantities by a simple wet chemical approach using hydrazine hydrate as reducant in the presence of polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG-6000) at room temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ultraviolet (UV)-vis absorption spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used to characterize the obtained products. It is found that the architecture of copper particles is drastically influenced by the mass ratio of PEG-6000/CuSO4(aq), PEG-6000/N2H4 · H2O, CuSO4(aq)/N2H4 · H2O and the concentration of precursors. It is revealed that PEG-6000 might play both capping reagent and dispersion reagent roles.
This work is supported by the Natural Scientific Foundation for Universities in Jiangsu Province (08KJB150007), the Foundation of Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Precious Metals Chemistry (SYGK0712), and the Natural Scientific Foundation of Jiangsu Teachers University of Technology (KYY07028 and KYZ08023).