Rapid and uniform synthesis of silver nanowires via rice-shaped silver nucleant

Abstract

In this work, we demonstrate the synthesis of silver nanowires via a nonaqueous method that employs ethylene glycol to reduce silver nitrate into metallic silver which deposited on the pre-synthesized silver nucleants. The silver nucleants with different morphologies were synthesized by adjusting the reaction temperature and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis). The results indicated that the silver nucleants with dendritic and nanorice morphologies could be prepared under the temperature of 313K, 353K, and 393K, respectively. Specially, it was demonstrated for the first time that the silver nanowires with high aspect ratio and uniformity could be synthesized rapidly via the silver nucleant with the nanorice morphology.