Formation of nanostructured metallic films from smart active phosphate glasses by bottom-up process: Ag⁰ synthesis

Full text: A borophosphate vitreous material characterized by the ability to grow, in a controlled manner, nanostructured films on the surface thereof, on the basis of compounds of typically metallic elements included as dopants in the original composition thereof was studied. The process begins with the automatic formation of nanoparticles (NPs) on the surface of the material, grown using heat treatment as a function of parameters such as temperature, time and atmosphere type (reducing) resulting in metallic nanostructures. The type of doping, silver ions at this study, is also chosen as a function of the applications of the material, which involve use as smart active substrates [1] in electronic devices and processes, as active parts in sensors and dosimeters, in particular for detecting gases, e.g hydrogen, in heterogeneous catalysis and as active material for preparing stable nanoparticle solutions, including with size control [2]. Metallic silver NPs were obtained by bottom-up process when the borophosphate glasses are doped with silver ions and thermal treated under hydrogen gas flux. The crystallinity of Ag-NPs were confirmed by XRD (X-ray diffractometry) and the vitreous material characterized by FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) were utilized for morphology characterization of silver nanofilms at different times of thermal treatment, for 3 minutes the nanoparticle diameter synthetized was about 50 nm and for 9 minutes 100 nm.(author)