Surfactant-Mediated Synthesis of Anisotropic Copper Crystals Using Electrochemical Deposition

Anisotropic metallic micro- and nanocrystals synthesis and characterization, either in suspension or localized on a surface is an area of immense interest due to its potential use in many applications ranging from catalysis, microelectronics, biosensors and solar cells. In this work, the electrochemical deposition of anisotropic copper crystals in the presence of CTAB surfactant is studied. We attempt to identify the dominant species (counter-ion, head group or tail chain length) within the surfactant molecule (CTAB) which dictates the morphology of growing crystals.