Shape-Dependent Aggregation of Silver Particles by Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Abstract

In crystallization, nanoparticle aggregation often leads to the formation of orderly structures, even single crystals. Why can nanoparticles form orderly structures and what is the mechanism dominating their orderly aggregation? These questions raise interesting research problems, but the occurrences that could answer them often fail to be directly observed, since the interaction among particles is invisible. Here, we report an attempt to discover the interaction and aggregation of building blocks through a computer simulation, focusing on the shape effect of building blocks on the aggregation. Four types of silver building blocks were selected, each consisting of (100) and (111) facets, but the ratio of these two facets was different. It was found that the area of facets played an important role in selecting the aggregation mode. The facets with a large area and high energy had a high possibility of aggregation. In addition, the effects of solvent viscosity and temperature were also investigated. High viscosity and low temperature enhanced the orderliness of aggregation. This paper reports a detailed view of the aggregation process of silver nanoparticles, which is expected to be helpful in understanding the structure evolution of materials in nonclassical crystallization.

Three-Dimensional Printing of Ag Nanoparticle Meshes for Antibacterial Activity

“…This energy difference is the primary reason that the aerosol Ag NPs printed on PDMS could be peeled off via aggregation. Moreover, the interaction energy (2388.6 kcal/mol) during the high velocity collision among the Ag NPs in this study is several times higher than those during orderly aggregation among the Ag NPs (103.8 kcal/mol) 28 and between the surfactant and Ag NP (406.1 kcal/mol). 29 These results suggest that owing to the impact, the Ag NPs formed high-energy bonds with each other.…”