Narrow size distributed Ag nanoparticles grown by spin coating and thermal reduction: effect of processing parameters

Abstract

A simple method to grow uniform sized Ag nanoparticles with narrow size distribution on flat support (glass and Si substrates) via spin coating of Ag+ ions (AgNO3) solution followed by thermal reduction in H2 is presented. These grown nanoparticles can be used as model catalytic system to study size dependent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity. Ag nanoparticles formation was confirmed by local surface plasmon resonance and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. Influences of process parameters (revolution per minute (rpm), ramp and salt concentration) on grown Ag nanoparticles size, density and size uniformity are studied. With increase in rpm and ramp the size decreases and the particle number density increases, whereas the size dispersion improves. The catalytic activity of the grown Ag particles for ORR is studied and it is found that the catalytic performance is dependent on the size as well as the number density of the grown Ag nanoparticles.