Rapid continuous microwave-assisted synthesis of silver nanoparticles to achieve very high productivity and full yield: from mechanistic study to optimal fabrication strategy

• Published in: Journal of nanoparticle research : an interdisciplinary forum for nanoscale science and technology Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 27 - 15
• Main Authors: Dzido, Grzegorz, Markowski, Piotr, Małachowska-Jutsz, Anna, Prusik, Krystian, Jarzębski, Andrzej B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acetates; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Fabrication; Flow rates; Inorganic Chemistry; Lasers; Materials Science; Metal particles; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Optical Devices; Optics; Photonics; Physical Chemistry; Polyols; Productivity; Research Paper; Silver; Silver nitrates; Strategy; Synthesis; Microwave; Polyol process; Silver nanoparticles
• ISSN: 1388-0764; 1572-896X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11051-014-2843-y

Systematic studies of silver nanoparticle synthesis in a continuous-flow single-mode microwave reactor using polyol process were performed, revealing that the synthesis is exceptionally effective to give very small metal particles at full reaction yield and very high productivity. Inlet concentration of silver nitrate or silver acetate, applied as metal precursors, varied between 10 and 50 mM, and flow rates ranged from 0.635 to 2.5 dm 3 /h, to give 3–24 s reaction time. Owing to its much higher reactivity, silver acetate was shown to be far superior substrate for the synthesis of small (10–20 nm) spherical silver nanoparticles within a few seconds. Its restricted solubility in ethylene glycol, applied as the solvent and reducing agent, appeared to be vital for effective separation of the stage of particle growth from its nucleation to enable rapid synthesis of small particles in a highly loaded system. This was not possible to obtain using silver nitrate. All the observations could perfectly be explained by a classical LaMer–Dinegar model of NPs’ formation, but taking into account also nonisothermal character of the continuous-flow process and acetate dissolution in the reaction system. The performed studies indicate an optimal strategy for the high-yield fabrication of metal particles using polyol method.