Solution Combustion Synthesis of Copper Nanopowders: The Fuel Effect

Pure copper nanoparticles have previously been successfully produced by different combustion methods, but most of them require the use of an inert atmosphere (N2, Ar) during the synthesis process or the usage of addition post reducing of metal oxides. In this article, novel modification of solution combustion synthesis technique for one-step metallic Cu nanoparticles preparation was developed. The main unique feature of our approach is the use of microwave-assisted foam preparation. Also, the effect of different types of fuels (urea, citric acid, glycine, and hexamethylenetetramine) on the combustion process and characteristics of resultant solid products was investigated. It was shown that the combination of microwave-assisted foam preparation and use of hexamethylenetetramine as a fuel allows producing pure metallic Cu nanoparticles (~67 nm) by one-step solution combustion synthesis under normal air atmosphere without any post reduction.