TITLE:
In-Situ Impregnation of Copper Nanoparticles on Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Powder
AUTHORS:
Ridzuan Ramli, Md. Maksudur Rahman Khan, Rosli Mohd Yunus, Huei Ruey Ong, Rohaya Mohamed Halim, Astimar Abdul Aziz, Zawawi Ibrahim, Nahrul Hayawin Zainal
KEYWORDS:
Copper Nanoparticles, In-Situ, Empty Fruit Bunch, Sol-Gel
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Nanoparticles,
Vol.3 No.3,
August
11,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Copper nanoparticles were impregnated onto oil palm empty fruit bunch
(EFB) powders via in-situ sol-gel
method. The impregnation and interfacial interaction of copper nanoparticles
with EFB were analysed by fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),
X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM),
energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The
interaction of copper nanoparticles with the surface functional groups of EFB
powders was identified by FTIR analysis. The peak shift of O-H and C-O
functional groups indicated the interaction between EFB and copper
nanoparticles. Besides that, XRD and EDX analysis confirmed the formation of copper
nanoparticles on EFB powder. Due to the copper impregnation, the crystallinity
of the EFB was increased as shown by XRD. The particles size of nanoparticles
was analysed via TEM and AFM where the sizes were in the range of 60 - 100 nm.
These findings strongly suggest that, copper nanoparticles impregnated EFB
powders can be synthesized via in- situ sol gel method.