2H and 4H silver colloidal suspension synthesis, as a new potential drug carrier

Abstract

In this paper diffusion impact on the silver nanoparticles synthesis and their crystal structure is shown. For this purpose, comparative studies between continuous flow two-phase microdroplets systems vs. two-phase batch reactor were performed. Such two-phase configuration of the investigated system makes it possible to study the impact of mass transfer phenomenon on the nanoparticles formation process. In the case of two-phase microdroplets system, diffusion is replaced by convection, accelerated by interphase friction between water droplets and a continuous organic phase. It was concluded that under diffusion control it was possible to obtain silver nanoparticles with a hexagonal crystal structure. Moreover, for the first time using a chemical method, and diffusion rate-limiting step, the hexagonal structure 4H and 2H of Ag nanoparticles were synthesized. We suggest, that such hexagonal crystals can be applied as a smart drug delivery system, where the drug releases can be controlled by short light impulse. In effects, thermodynamically unstable 4H and 2H crystals transform to more dense-packed FCC structure.