Table 1.

Physiochemical characterization

Items		Cu NPs	Cu MPs
Shape		Spherical	Spherical
Primary sizea		32.7 ± 10.5 nm	25.3 ± 6.6 μm
Hydrodynamic size (nm)b	pH 1.5	n.a	n.a
	pH 6.5	516 ± 116.9	n.a
	pH 7.8	334 ± 128.3	n.a
Surface area (m2/g)c		14.7	0.16
Zeta potential (mV)d	pH 1.5	25.5 ± 0.8	n.a
	pH 6.5	1.32 ± 1.2	n.a
	pH 7.8	−6.2 ± 0.2	n.a

Note

^aPrimary size of Cu NPs and Cu MPs was measured by transmission electron microscopy (300 counts and 100 counts, respectively)

^bHydrodynamic size of Cu NPs was measured by a dynamic light scattering method

^cSurface area was measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method (N₂ gas)

^dZeta potential was measured using electrophoretic light scattering method under pH 1.5, pH 6.5 and pH 7.8 conditions

n.a. not available