Size-tunable silver nanoparticles synthesized by using aminopolycarboxylic acids at ambient-temperature

Full text: Stable aqueous sols of silver nanoparticles are prepared by using various aminopolycarboxylic acids as stabilizing agents at ambient temperature. The precursor silver perchlorate is reduced using γ radiations. Interestingly, it was observed that size of silver nanoparticles obtained could be tuned using various aminopolycarboxylic acids of varying carboxylic acid groups The silver sols synthesized by this method were stable for months and particles obtained were monodisperse in almost all cases. Particle formation was observed at equimolar concentration of silver and aminopolycarboxylic acids. The stabilization of particles even in the absence of any polymer indicates that the adsorption of aminopolycarboxylic acids on silver particle is a spontaneous process. The adsorbed aminopolycarboxylic acids can saturate the residual valence force of the silver atom on the particle surface by coordinating with unoccupied orbital. Adsorption of aminopolycarboxylic acids does not lead to any change in surface plasmon band of silver nanoparticles; this indicates that anions in the double layer on the colloidal particle have different chemical properties from the free anions. Synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized by UV-visible spectrophotometer, X-ray Diffraction, Dynamic Light Scattering and Transmission Electron Microscope