Exploring Reduction Time and Precursor Effects on Cu Nanoparticle Size in A Nontoxic Chemical Reduction Method

The control of crystallite size, shape, and synthetic conditions of nanomaterials is considerable due to control the nanomaterials outstanding features. Accordingly, in this study, copper (Cu) nanoparticles were synthesized using the chemical reduction method which utilized copper nitrate and copper sulfate as the Cu precursors and L-ascorbic acid as the reducing agent without any capping agent in various reduction times (4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 hours).XRD, TEM, FESEM, and EDS were used to evaluate the produced Cu nanoparticles. The results showed that the crystallinity of the synthesized Cu nanoparticles rose with increasing reduction time. Moreover, copper nitrate-derived copper nanoparticles showed higher crystallinity than copper sulfate. After a 24-hour reduction period, the Cu nanoparticles' crystallite size increased to 45 ± 11 nm, however it stayed mostly stable from 4 to 20 hours. Furthermore, the crystallite size of Cu nanoparticles produced by copper nitrate was significantly larger than those made with copper sulfate. The primary outcome was the production of high-quality Cu nanoparticles by chemically reducing copper nitrate with L-ascorbic acid for 20 hours, yielding fine and pure Cu crystallites. The findings of this study provide new insights into the effects of reduction time and precursor selection on the synthesis of Cu nanoparticles, which could help optimize nanoparticle size and crystallinity and have implications for a wide range of applications in electronics, catalysis, and materials science.