Direct, rapid, facile photochemical method for preparing copper nanoparticles and copper patterns.

We develop a facile method for preparing copper nanoparticles and patterned surfaces with copper stripes by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of a mixture solution containing a photoinitiator and a copper-amine coordination compound. The copper-amine compound is formed by adding diethanol amine to an ethanol solution of copper chloride. Under UV irradiation, free radicals are generated by photoinitiator decomposition. Meanwhile, the copper-amine coordination compound is rapidly reduced to copper particles because the formation of the copper-amine coordination compound prevents the production of insoluble cuprous chloride. Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) is used as a capping agent to prevent the aggregation of the as-prepared copper nanoparticles. The capping agent increases the dispersion of copper nanoparticles in the ethanol solution and affects their size and morphology. Increasing the concentration of the copper-amine coordination compound to 0.1 M directly forms a patterned surface with copper stripes on the transparent substrate. This patterned surface is formed through the combination of the heterogeneous nucleation of copper nanoparticles and photolithography. We also investigate the mechanism of photoreduction by UV-vis spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.