Abstract
Silver nanocrystals, including single-crystalline cubic nanostructures and multiply twined polyhedrons, have been synthesized by a hydrothermal method with the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). Field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and UV–Vis–NIR spectrometer have been employed to investigate the morphology and optical properties of the products. The results show that the shapes of Ag nanostructures are mainly correlated to the molar ratio between PVP and AgNO3. Anisotropic Ag nanostructures with shapes of cube, truncated octahedron, decahedrons, and icosahedrons were obtained when the molar ratio changed in the range of 4–20. It’s quite possible that Fullerene-structured Ag nanocrystal can be formed through this method. The plausible growth mechanisms for the Ag nanostructures of various shapes were present, in which PVP serves as both reducing and surfactant agent for the reduction of Ag+ and growth modifier of the nanocrystals.
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