Abstract
Contrast to the polydisperse nanorods formed by common seed-mediated growth method without the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in seed solution, we successfully obtained silver nanoparticles with different morphologies in the same reaction system by addition of CTAB in the seed solution. In this work, an appropriate amount of CTAB was added into the solution to prepare silver seed crystals. The results show that the aging time of silver seeds have a great influence on the sizes and morphologies of silver nanoparticles and thus the shape-controllable silver nanoparticles can be easily achieved by simply changing the seed aging time. The results also support that the selective adsorption ability or adsorption behavior of TSC can be adjusted by adding CTAB in the preparation procedure of silver seeds. We suggest that different aging times generate different effects on the competitive adsorption between CTAB and citrate to induce the orientation growth of silver seeds. As a result, silver nanospheres, nanorods, and triangular nanoplates can be easily prepared in the same system. In addition, we overcome the time limitation about the use of the seeds by adding CTAB into seed solution and make the synthesis of silver or other metal nanoparticles with different morphologies more easily and more efficiently.
Highlights
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), a noble metal nanostructure, have always been a hot research topic over the years
Mirkin’s group first presented synthesis of triangular nanoparticles in liquid phase with optical radiation, and their experiments elucidated the optical characteristics of nanoprisms and nanoplates [20]
In order to investigate the influence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-capped seeds and their aging time on the morphologies of silver nanoparticles, an appropriate amount of CTAB was added into the solution to prepare silver seed crystals
Summary
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), a noble metal nanostructure, have always been a hot research topic over the years. Due to their surface effect [1], quantum size effect [2], macroscopic quantum tunneling effect [3], and other unique properties, AgNPs have been used in many fields successfully [4]. Research results show that the physical and chemical properties of anisotropic nanoparticles, such as nanorods, nanowires, and nanoplates, are strongly influenced by their particle sizes [13] and morphology [14, 15]. Wet chemical reduction method has been a distinguished one since it is simple to fabricate uniform particles and suitable to be applied in large-scale production. Mirkin’s group first presented synthesis of triangular nanoparticles in liquid phase with optical radiation, and their experiments elucidated the optical characteristics of nanoprisms and nanoplates [20]
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