Dodecylamine-mediated synthesis and growth mechanism of copper nanowires with an aspect ratio of over 10000

Abstract In this study, copper nanowires (CuNWs) with the diameter down to 18 nm and the length as high as 200 µm have been synthesized via a hydrothermal process. Dark-field optical microscopy (DFOM) and UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) results suggested that dodecylamine was not only favorable to the slow reduction of a complex of copper ions and dodecylamine for the generation of twinned seeds, but also beneficial for selectively adsorption on {100} and {200} facets of the newly generated copper seeds, allowing them to grow into nanowires with ultrahigh aspect ratio.