Nano Express
Large-scale synthesis and self-organization of silver nanoparticles with Tween 80 as a reductant and stabilizer
1 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China
2 Advanced Materials Laboratory, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China
3 Department of Materials Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People’s Republic of China
4 School of Medical Instrument and Food Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, People’s Republic of China
Nanoscale Research Letters 2012, 7:612 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-7-612
Published: 6 November 2012Abstract
Tween 80 (polysorbate 80) has been used as a reducing agent and protecting agent to prepare stable water-soluble silver nanoparticles on a large scale through a one-pot process, which is simple and environmentally friendly. Silver ions can accelerate the oxidation of Tween 80 and then get reduced in the reaction process. The well-ordered arrays such as ribbon-like silver nanostructures could be obtained by adjusting the reaction conditions. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy confirms that ribbon-like silver nanostructures (approximately 50 nm in length and approximately 2 μm in width) are composed of a large number of silver nanocrystals with a size range of 2 to 3 nm. In addition, negative absorbance around 320 nm in the UV-visible spectra of silver nanoparticles has been observed, probably owing to the instability of nanosized silver colloids.
