Sonoelectrochemistry of Cu2+ in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide:: Obtaining CuBr instead of copper

The sonoelectrochemistry of Cu2+ ions which yields metallic copper with surfactants such as poly-(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) and poly(vinyl alcohol) or without any surfactant produced nanocrystalline CuBr (95 wt %) and 5% of metallic copper in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. A sonoelectrochemical mechanism explaining the different behaviors for the various surfactants is proposed.