Rapid synthesis of silver nanowires during the polyol-microwave method and COMSOL multiphysics simulation of electromagnetic heating

Abstract

To date, various methods have been used to synthesize silver nanowires, but some require long reaction times. In this work, we synthesized widely used silver nanowires with high efficiency and with the least time and energy during the polyol-microwave method. Also, the effects of microwave irradiation time, silver nitrate concentration, and type of etching agent on the shape and size of nanostructures were investigated experimentally. In fact, the shape and production efficiency of silver nanowires were controlled and the optimal conditions were obtained at the microwave irradiation time of 210 s. The characterization of the silver nanowires showed that silver nanowires with an average diameter of 80 nm and an average length of 20 µm can be produced with high efficiency under optimal conditions. Finally, for the first time, in the microwave-based synthesis method, electromagnetic heating was studied and simulated with the help of the “finite element” method implemented by the COMSOL Multiphysics software. The results showed that with increasing time, the temperature increases, and as a result, the number density of glycolaldehyde reducing agents increases. This could also explain the fast growth of silver nanowires during this method.