Facile chemical synthesis of W-Ag and W-Cu nanocomposites at low temperature.

W-Ag (80.2W-19.8Ag, 70.4W-29.6Ag and 60.5W-39.5Ag) and W-Cu (79.7W-20.3Cu, 70.5W-29.5Cu and 59.8W-40.2Cu) nanocomposites in the size range of 24-30 nm have been synthesized by thermal decomposition of W(CO)6/CH3COOAg and W(CO)6/Cu(acac)2 in diphenyl ether as solvent at 220 degrees C in presence of oleic acid and hexadecyl amine and characterized. FTIR spectra have been used to explain the role of oleic acid and hexadecyl amine in the synthesis of W-Ag and W-Cu composite powders. XRD studies show that the tungsten phase is amorphous, whereas both Ag and Cu crystallize in fcc for as-synthesized W-Ag and W-Cu nanocomposites. These composite powders when annealed at 700 degrees C results in the formation of bcc tungsten and peaks corresponding to fcc silver and copper still persists. The particle size, shape and distribution of these nanocomposites of various compositions have been studied by SAXS, ESEM and TEM and found to be nearly spherical with the average diameters below 30 nm.