Self-organized formation of silver nanowires, nanocubes and bipyramids via a solvothermal method

✍ Scribed by W.C. Zhang; X.L. Wu; H.T. Chen; Y.J. Gao; J. Zhu; G.S. Huang; Paul K. Chu

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 672 KB
• Volume: 56
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1359-6454
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2008.01.043

✦ Synopsis

Three kinds of silver nanostructures -nanowires, nanocubes and bipyramids -were synthesized via a simple solvothermal method by reducing silver nitrate with ethylene glycol using poly(vinylpyrrolidone) as an adsorption agent and adding different concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) into the solution. When a low-concentration NaCl solution is used, trace amounts of silver chloride (AgCl) appear and act as the seeds to facilitate the formation of the silver nanowires. However, when a high-concentration NaCl solution is used, large amounts of AgCl appear and mainly act as the controlling agent leading to the formation of silver nanocubes and bipyramids. Electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and absorption spectra have been used to investigate the products, and a mechanism is proposed to interpret the morphological control of these structures. Our work provides a strategy to fabricate silver nanostructures with different shapes.