Synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles by electrochemical method

Abstract

In this work, silver nanoparticles (Ag-NP) were synthesized by electrochemical method, using a metallic silver cathode and anode in deionized water. The polarity was inverted every 60 seconds generating a voltage variation in order to obtain three different concentrations of Ag nanoparticles: 16 ppm, 24 ppm and 34 ppm. The synthesized nanoparticles were structurally, optically and morphologically characterized by XRD, UV-Vis and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), respectively. XRD patterns showed the peaks at 38.11° and 64.42° from Ag. The surface plasmon resonance peak in absorption spectra on silver colloidal solution showed absorption from 422 nm to 429 nm. TEM measurement provided an average particle size for the concentrations of 16 ppm, 24 ppm and 34 ppm of 4.23 nm, 3.95 nm and 3.27 nm, respectively. The test with the E. coli bacteria showed that there is an inhibition in the growth of the bacteria with the presence of silver nanoparticles.