We report on studies that demonstrate how the chemical
composition
of the surface of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) – in terms of
percentage copper(I/II) oxides – can be varied by the presence
of N-donor ligands during their formation via laser ablation. Changing
the chemical composition thus allows systematic tuning of the surface
plasmon resonance (SPR) transition. The trialed ligands include pyridines,
tetrazoles, and alkylated tetrazoles. CuNPs formed in the presence
of pyridines, and alkylated tetrazoles exhibit a SPR transition only
slightly blue shifted with respect to CuNPs formed in the absence
of any ligand. On the other hand, the presence of tetrazoles results
in CuNPs characterized by a significant blue shift of the order of
50–70 nm. By comparing these data also with the SPR of CuNPs
formed in the presence of carboxylic acids and hydrazine, this work
demonstrates that the blue shift in the SPR is due to tetrazolate
anions providing a reducing environment to the nascent CuNPs, thus
preventing the formation of copper(II) oxides. This conclusion is
further supported by the fact that both AFM and TEM data indicate
only small variations in the size of the nanoparticles, which is not
enough to justify a 50–70 nm blue-shift of the SPR transition.
High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selected
area electron diffraction (SAED) studies further confirm the absence
of Cu(II)-containing CuNPs when prepared in the presence of tetrazolate
anions.