Preparation of Cu, Ag, Fe and Al nanoparticles by the exploding wire technique

We describe a novel process for the production of nanoparticles of Cu, Ag, Fe and Al which involves exploding their respective wires, triggered by large current densities in the wires. The particles are characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Particle sizes in the range 20–100 nm were obtained employing this technique. The XRD results reveal that the nanoparticles continue to retain lattice periodicity at reduced particle sizes, displaying in some cases evidence of lattice strain and preferential orientation. In the case of Fe, Mossbauer spectroscopy reveals loss of ferromagnetism as a result of the reduced size of the particles.