Stabilization of silver nanoparticles in nonanoic acid: A temperature activated conformation reaction observed with surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Silver nanoparticles were synthesized by ultraviolet (λ=248 nm) laser ablation of an aerosol of micron-sized source particles entrained in nitrogen. As a result of thermionic electron emission and photoionization, nanoparticles produced in this manner were highly charged. The resulting aerosol was primarily composed of nanometer sized particles. The charged nanoparticles were deflected by an electric field that was perpendicular to the aerosol flow. Deflected nanoparticles were deposited directly into n-nonanoic acid flowing along the negative collection electrode. Suspensions of nanoparticles collected in this manner were dark gray in color and were found to be flocculated. When the suspensions were heated to temperatures above 75 deg. C, a color change from gray to clear was observed. Ultraviolet/visible extinction spectroscopy was performed on each suspension following annealing at different temperatures and times. By modeling the absorption decrease as a first order reaction, a good fit for the data was found. Analysis by dynamic light scattering (DLS) showed that the initial mean flocculent size of the gray suspensions was 602 nm. DLS analysis of the suspensions taken at different annealing intervals showed that the flocculent size decreased, but maintained a narrow size distribution until the size shrank below the instrument resolution limit. The reduction in flocculent size coincided with the observed color change, and an irreversible transition to a deflocculated primary nanoparticle suspension is observed. Surface enhanced Raman scattering is used to confirm that the reaction results from a change in the orientation of the nonanoic molecule on the surface of the nanoparticle