Designing of Copper Nanoparticle Size Formed via Aerosol Pyrolysis

In this article, the synthesis and structural design of spherical, nonagglomerated particles of copper powder, synthesized by ultrasonic atomization of copper sulfate solutions in hydrogen atmosphere at 1173 K (900 °C), was investigated. Well-controlled particle sizes of Cu powders were obtained from precursor solutions of various concentrations. The mean particle diameters and the ranges of particle size distribution were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The diameter values of Cu particles obtained experimentally and estimated theoretically, using the most frequently applied atomization models, were compared. Special attention was paid to our break up capillary waves model, described elsewhere and significantly advanced by Jokanović’s theoretical approach, which was applied for the first time to a copper metal system as described in this article. The best agreement between the calculated and the experimentally obtained values was found using this model.