Formation mechanism of colloidal silver nanoparticles: analogies and differences to the growth of gold nanoparticles.

Polte, Jörg; Tuaev, Xenia; Wuithschick, Maria; Fischer, Anna; Thuenemann, Andreas F; Rademann, Klaus; Kraehnert, Ralph; Emmerling, Franziska · ACS Nano · 2012

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

The formation mechanisms of silver nanoparticles using aqueous silver perchlorate solutions as precursors and sodium borohydride as reducing agent were investigated based on time-resolved in situ experiments. This contribution addresses two important issues in colloidal science: (i) differences and analogies between growth processes of different metals such as gold and silver and (ii) the influence of a steric stabilizing agent on the growth process. The results reveal that a growth due to coalescence is a fundamental growth principle if the monomer-supplying chemical reaction is faster than the actual particle formation.