Abstract
In colloidal methods, the morphology of nanoparticles (size and shape) as well as their stability can be controlled by changing the concentration of the substrate, stabilizer, adding inorganic salts, changing the reducer/substrate molar ratio, and changing the pH and reaction time. The synthesis of silver nanoparticles was carried out according to the modified Lee and Meisel method in a wide pH range (from 2.0 to 11.0) using citric acid and malic acid, without adding any additives or stabilizers. Keeping the same reaction conditions as the concentration of acid and silver ions, temperature, and heating time, it was possible to determine the relationship between the reaction pH, the type of acid, and the size of the silver nanoparticles formed. Obtained colloids were analyzed by UV-Vis spectroscopy and investigated by means of Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). The study showed that the colloids reduced with citric acid and malic acid are stable over time for a minimum of seven weeks. We observed that reactions occurred for citric acid from pH 6.0 to 11.0 and for malic acid from pH 7.0 to 11.0. The average size of the quasi-spherical nanoparticles changed with pH due to the increase of reaction rate.
Highlights
The global market value of nanotechnology is expected to reach $90.5 billion by 2021 as commercial and consumer nano-products continue to rise [1]
As a result of reduction with citric, and malic acids according to the modified method of Lee and Meisel, we obtained quasi-spherical nanoparticles, in the case of citric acid rods
The reactions were carried out at pH 2.0 to 11.0; reactions occurred for citric from pH 6.0 to 11.0 and for malic acid from pH 7.0 to 11.0 respectively
Summary
The global market value of nanotechnology is expected to reach $90.5 billion by 2021 as commercial and consumer nano-products continue to rise [1]. According to the recently published statistics silver is considered to be one of the most investigated and commercialized nanomaterials due to its good conductivity, chemical stability as well as catalytic and antibacterial activity [2,3,4,5,6,7]. Design and fabrication of silver-based next-generation nanomaterials have been subjects of intense research in the field material sciences [8,9]. Silver and silver-based nanomaterials, as the fruitful results of these studies, have been widely applied in disinfection of medical devices and household appliances, catalysis, cosmetics, in wound dressings, for water treatment, and in various textile materials containing silver nanoparticles in fibers [6,7,10,11,12,13,14,15]. The interest of many researchers has been focused on the use of Materials 2020, 13, 5444; doi:10.3390/ma13235444 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
