Morphology and texture of nanocrystalline copper prepared electrochemically from oxides

The electrochemical reduction of metal oxides provides an appropriate techn ique for the production of nanocrystalline mesoporous metals at room-temper ature. Polycrystalline sintered CuO and Cu2O single crystals were reduced t o Cu in this study. Electron microscopy and diffraction results demonstrate the dependence of the metal microstructure on the preparation and post-tre atment conditions. The size and microstrain of the crystallites are control led mainly by the preparation temperature. This method enables the reproduc ible production of medium-scale nanocrystalline metals independent on criti cal process parameters. (C) 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers.