Open Access Nano Express

Copper@polypyrrole nanocables

Jullieth Suárez-Guevara1, Omar Ayyad1 and Pedro Gómez-Romero1,2*

Author Affiliations

1 Centro de Investigación en Nanociencia y Nanotecnología, CIN2 (CSIC-ICN), Campus UAB, Bellaterra, Barcelona, 08193, Spain

2 MATGAS Research Center, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, Barcelona, 08193, Spain

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Nanoscale Research Letters 2012, 7:521 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-7-521

Published: 25 September 2012

Abstract

A simple hydrothermal redox reaction between microcrystalline CuOHCl and pyrrole leads to the isolation of striking nanostructures formed by polypyrrole-coated copper nanocables. These multicomponent cables that feature single-crystalline face-centered cubic Cu cores (ca. 300 nm wide and up to 200 μm long) are smoothly coated by conducting polypyrrole, which in addition to its functionality, offers protection against oxidation of the metal core.

Keywords:
Copper nanocables; Nanowires; Polymer-coated metal nanocables; Conducting polymers; Metal-conducting polymer nanostructures; Hydrothermal synthesis; Hybrid materials