Silver particles tailoring of shapes and sizes

Dispersions of colloidal silver have been prepared by the reduction of silver nitrate, with different reductants in the presence of various stabilising agents. Aging these dispersions at room temperature for 2 h yielded particles with average sizes ranging from 1 nm up to 6 μm and with various shapes like spheres, plates, needles or leafs. Reducing and stabilising agents were found to control the final particle sizes and shapes. The diversity of morphologies of the silver particles were studied by using electron microscopy. Thermogravimetry, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV/VIS spectroscopy were carried out for further characterisation.