One-step large-scale synthesis of micrometer-sized silver nanosheets by a template-free electrochemical method

Sun Hwa Park,Hyun Min Park,Tae Geol Lee,Jae Ong Song,Jin Gyeong Son

doi:10.1186/1556-276x-8-248

Abstract

We have synthesized micrometer-sized Ag nanosheets via a facile, one-step, template-free electrochemical deposition in an ultra-dilute silver nitrate aqueous electrolyte. The nanosheet growth was revealed to occur in three stages: (1) formation of polygonal Ag nuclei on a substrate, (2) growth of {112}-faceted nanowire from the nuclei, and (3) anisotropic growth of (111)-planar nanosheets, approximately 20 to 50 nm in thickness and 10 μm in width, in the <112>−direction. The vertical growth of the facet nanowire was induced by the strong interface anisotropy between the deposit and electrolyte due to the ultra-dilute concentration of electrolyte and high reduction potential. The thickness of Ag nanosheets was controllable by the adjustment of the reduction/oxidation potential and frequency of the reverse-pulse potentiodynamic mode.

Highlights

Silver nanostructures have attracted much attention due to unique electrical, optical, and biocompatible properties that are applicable to chemical sensors, catalysts, interconnects in micro or nano devices, plasmonics, and photonics [1,2,3,4,5]
This indicates that the growth of facetted nanowires and nanosheets shown in Figure 1 was closely related to the dilute concentration
The nanosheets attached to the facetted nanowires could be detached from the substrate and dispersed into an aqueous solution via sonication for several seconds, which enabled us to prepare TEM samples

Summary

Introduction

Silver nanostructures have attracted much attention due to unique electrical, optical, and biocompatible properties that are applicable to chemical sensors, catalysts, interconnects in micro or nano devices, plasmonics, and photonics [1,2,3,4,5]. Two-dimensional silver nanostructures have been fabricated using surfactants (capping agent) [6,13], sacrificial materials [14], and hard templates (porous alumina) [15]. These methods have the merits of controlling the morphology and size of Ag nanostructures, they are complicated and costly. A chemical route without any surfactants led to the large-scale synthesis of

Methods

Results

Conclusion