Preparation of silver nanoparticles on sol-gel base and study of their physical and morphological properties

In this study, we propose a simple approach to prepare silver nanoparticles. The silver nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical reduction of AgNO3 in the presence of tetrabutyl titanate (C16H36O4Ti; TNBT) and metallic tin powder as reducing agent in water at room temperature. The structure and average grain size of prepared particles were characterized by transmission electron microscope, X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscope. Based on proposed method, nearly spherical shape nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 17±0.6 nm were obtained. The silver nanoparticles dispersed in tetrahydrofuran-dimethylformamide (1:1) mixture exhibit a broad UV-visible band.