Method for producing metals with textured surfaces

Abstract

The disclosure is directed at methods of producing metals with texture surfaces. The metals may include metal nanoparticles, metal alloy nanoparticles, thin metal films, thin metal foils or extended metal surfaces. A selected metal is combined with an aqueous growth solution that may include a cationic surfactant solution and a metal salt to generate a reaction mixture. A pH of the reaction mixture may be adjusted before an ascorbic acid is added. After the ascorbic acid is added, the reaction mixture is left to react and then the resultant metal with a textured surface is collected.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of applying a texture to a metal surface comprising:
 obtaining a cationic surfactant solution;   adding an aqueous metal salt solution to the cationic surfactant solution to generate a reaction mixture; and   adding an ascorbic acid to the reaction mixture to generate a textured metal.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 adjusting a pH level of the cationic surfactant solution. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 adding a texturing metal before or after the reaction mixture is generated. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the texturing metal is at least one of metal seeds, nearly spherical metal nanoparticles, nanorods, metal foils, metal films or metal nanocubes. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the texturing metal is a same metal as a metal in the aqueous metal salt solution. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the texturing metal is palladium, platinum, ruthenium, gold, silver, rhodium or ruthenium-silver alloy. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 adding a thin metal film into the reaction mixture. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising:
 washing the thin metal film before it is added to the reaction mixture. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 collecting the textured metal. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising:
 washing the collected textured metal. 
 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 adjusting a temperature of the reaction mixture to a predetermined temperature. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 agitating the reaction mixture for a predetermined period of time. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein obtaining a cationic surfactant solution comprises:
 mixing water with at least one of cetylpyridinium bromide (CPB), cetyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (CTAC), cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), cetylpyridinium iodide (CPI) or cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 3  further comprising:
 synthesizing the texturing metal before adding the texturing metal to the reaction mixture. 
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the aqueous metal salt solution comprises at least two salts. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein obtaining a cationic surfactant solution comprises:
 mixing a cationic surfactant above a critical micelle concentration (CMC) with a liquid. 
 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising:
 mixing a co-surfactant into the cationic surfactant solution. 
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising:
 mixing sodium salicylate (NaSal) into the cationic surfactant solution. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 centrifuging the reaction mixture to separate the textured metal from the reaction mixture.