Low temperature synthesis and thermal properties of Ag–Cu alloy nanoparticles

Ag–Cu alloy nanoparticles were synthesized by simple low temperature chemical reduction method using metal salts (acetate/sulphates) in aqueous solution with sodium borohydride as reducing agent. The chemical reduction was carried out in the presence of nitrogen gas in order to prevent the oxidation of copper during the reaction process. The alloy nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, UV-Vis, particle size analysis, EDS, TG-DTA and SEM analysis. From the XRD analysis, the crystallite sizes of the prepared samples were calculated using Scherrer formula and the values were found to be in the range of 15 nm. UV-Vis studies conform the formation of alloy nanoparticles. EDS analysis shows the presence of silver and copper in the samples. The SEM observation reveals that the samples consist of grains with average grain size up to 40 nm, and the particle size dependant melting point was studied by TG-DTA.