Preparation and Characterization of Ag Nanoparticle/SiO2 Composite for Optical Application

Abstract

A facile method to fabricate volumetric light-guide plate (LGP) by micro-nanostructure of Ag/SiO2 composite was presented in this study. The Ag NPs/SiO2 composite were first prepared from a mixture of yellowish-brown Ag NPs colloids and SiO2 powder by electrostatic self-assembly method. Its chemical and physical properties were investigated by scanning transmission microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The small particles (Ag/SiO2 composite) in the LGP could produce multiple scattering effect with different size of micro-nanoparticles, which could improve the light-scattering performance of the LGP. The effective light scattering of the material into LGP was obtained from the increased amount of the particles. Meanwhile, surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag NPs also improves the performance of LGP, which could be further applied to design device in optical application. In additional, optical properties and light scattering mechanism of the Ag NPs/SiO2 composite in the LGP are discussed and presented.