Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles using Facile Wet Chemical Route

Abstract

Stable aqueous monodispersed silver nanoparticles were synthesised by reducing silver nitrate using various sugars such as glucose, fructose, lactose, and sucrose at 55-60 o C. A mixture of two stabilising agents, polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) of molecular weight (MW 40, 000) and gelatin plays a decisive part in controlling size and shape of superfine silver nanoparticles. Using PVP, better control of particle size was obtained, whereas a mixture of PVP, and gelatin resulted in sea urchin kind of structure. Effects of several processing parameters such as pH, quantities of alkaline solution, reaction time, concentration of stabilising agent, and the metal/dispersant ratio were investigated. The suspensions were stable for at least one week. Silver nanoparticles can be easily collected by centrifugation on mixing with sufficient amount of acetone. Structural characterisation of synthesised silver nanoparticles was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), which shows that the as-synthesised silver nanoparticles are face-centered cubic crystalline. Chemical characterisations of as-synthesized silver nanoparticles were done using inductively-coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and LECO gas analysers. The optical properties of silver nanoparticles were monitored using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Role of stabilising agent in protecting the silver nanoparticles was studied using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Particle size and distribution were characterised using smallangle X-ray scattering (SAXS), zeta particle size analyser (PSA), scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The average particle size of the as-synthesised silver nanoparticles was 35 nm.

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