Electron-Beam Induced Growth of Bare Silver Nanowires from Zeolite Crystallites

Abstract

Silver nanowires grow from highly Ag+‐loaded zeolitesat the impact of the electron beam from a transmission electron microscope. Both bent, polycrystalline (see Figure), and straight single crystal wires (15 to 150 nm wide, and up to tens of μm long) can be obtained. Their formation can be rationalized as the reduction of Ag+ within the zeolite, accumulation of Ag metal in mesopores, and finally the breaching of the crystallite surface (see the collage of images on the inside front cover).

Controlling synthesis of silver nanowires and dendrites in mixed surfactant solutions

“…(1) Procedure for synthesizing silver nanowires: 3.0 g cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), 3.0 ml 1-butanol, 16.0 ml octane, and 3.0 ml NaCl (1 mol l −1 ) in aqueous solution and 3.0 g sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), 40.0 ml 1-hexanol, and 4 ml AgNO 3 (1 mol l −1 ) in aqueous solution were added into two different reaction vessels, respectively. And then, the solutions were magnetically stirred for 30-60 min.…”

“…To overcome the shortcomings of low quantity and complicated synthetic procedure, many attempts in recent years have been focused on a soft solution-phase approach to synthesizing uniform silver nanowires. For example, silver nanowires have been successfully fabricated by extraction from zeolite pores [16] as well as by reducing AgNO 3 with a developer in the presence of AgBr nanocrystallites [17] or with ascorbic acid in a wet chemical route [18]. Recently, Xia and co-workers have demonstrated a novel polyol process for the large-scale synthesis of uniform silver nanowires in the presence of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) [19,20].…”

Electron beam induced growth of silver nanowhiskers

“…E.g. Edmondson [8] demonstrated electron beam induced growth of silver whiskers from zeolites chemically loaded with silver ions.…”

“Hard” vs. “Soft” Templating Synthesis of Mesoporous Nb2O5 Catalysts for Oxidation Reactions

“…A rich variety of templates have already been employed for the preparation of nanoporous oxides including ''soft'' and ''hard'' templates, recently also called as endo-and exotemplates [5]. Typically, ''hard'' (exo) templates include channel-like alumina membranes [6], track-etched polycarbonates [7], zeolites [8], pristine [9,10] or microwave-digested mesoporous silicas [11], carbon nanotubes [12,13] or spheres [14] and surface-structured solid substrates [15]. Over the past decade various surfactants have been employed as ''soft'' templates for the synthesis of mesoporous molecular sieves, including nanostructured oxides such as rhenium dioxide [16], nickel oxide [17], divanadium pentoxide [18], tin oxide [19,20], MO 2 , where M = Ti, Zr, Ce [21], iron-titanium oxide [22], titanium oxide [23].…”