Metal nanoparticles formed around a nucleus and scalable processes for producing same

A method comprising:

• forming a plurality of nucleation seeds as an insoluble compound in a reactor in the presence of a first metal salt, the first metal salt being reducible to form a zero-valent metal;
• after formation of the plurality of nucleation seeds is complete, adding a reducing agent to the reactor and reducing the first metal salt with the reducing agent to form the zero-valent metal in the presence of at least one surfactant;
• and
• growing a plurality of metal nanoparticles in which each metal nanoparticle comprises a shell comprising the zero-valent metal formed around a nucleus derived from a nucleation seed;
• wherein the first metal salt is a copper (II) salt that is a basic copper (II) salt stabilized with ammonia, citrate, or tartrate, and the plurality of nucleation seeds are formed by reacting the basic copper (II) salt with a reducing sugar;
• wherein the plurality of nucleation seeds comprise Cu2O.

A method comprising:

• forming a plurality of nucleation seeds as an insoluble compound in a reactor in the presence of a first metal salt, the first metal salt being reducible to form a zero-valent metal;
• wherein the plurality of nucleation seeds comprise a metal carboxylate selected from the group consisting of a metal benzoate and a metal oxalate;
• after formation of the plurality of nucleation seeds is complete, adding a reducing agent to the reactor and reducing the first metal salt with the reducing agent to form the zero-valent metal in the presence of at least one surfactant;
• and
• growing a plurality of metal nanoparticles in which each metal nanoparticle comprises a shell comprising the zero-valent metal formed around a nucleus derived from a nucleation seed.