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In comparison to the well-characterized bottom-up synthesis of Au and Ag nanomaterials, the synthesis of Cu nanocrystals with well-defined and controllable shapes is still in need of improvement. Among the many shapes, a cube covered by six 100 facets can be regarded as a standard model to study the surface properties of 100 facets. Herein, we have prepared monodisperse Cu nanoparticles having a slightly truncated cubic shape with an average edge length of 75. 7 nm and a standard deviation of 3. 87% by using CuCl as the precursor, oleylamine as the reaction solvent, and trioctylphosphine and octadecylamine as shape control agents. The as-prepared Cu nanocubes tend to self-assemble on transmission electron microscopy grids or silicon substrates. Electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering reveal that the Cu nanocubes prefer to self-assemble into 2D or 3D rhombohedral structures (RS). Large-area dense-packed films (1. 5 cm × 2. 5 cm) composed of monodisperse Cu nanocubes were fabricated by immersing a Si substrate in a dispersion of dodecanethiol-capped Cu nanocubes in toluene and evaporating the toluene at a controlled rate while holding the substrate at an angle. The electrical properties of the Cu films with various thickness and annealing temperatures were studied.
Yang et al. (2014) studied this question.