MICROWAVE ACCELERATED CHEMICAL REDUCTION METHOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF COPPER AND COPPER OXIDE NANOPARTICLES AS NANOMETAL LUBRICANT ADDITIVES.

Copper nanoparticles (CuNP) have been synthesized by using chemical reduction method using copper sulphate pentahydrate (CuSO4.5H2O) and ascorbic acid (C6H8O6) and distilled water as a solvent. The process was accelerated using microwave irradiation. The ascorbic acid was used both as reducing and capping agent. The synthesized material was studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The UV-Vis spectra showed a CuNP plasmon peak at 561 nm and FTIR showed the functional groups present with their absorption peaks which suggested that copper nanoparticles were surrounded by different organic molecules. The XRD revealed Cu and Cu2O with crystallite size 40 nm and 45 nm, respectively. EDX spectroscopy confirmed the existence of Cu and O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]