ABSTRACT
We review our recent work on synthesis of the silver nanoparticles using glucose as the reductant. Non-toxic or biocompatible polymer molecules such as poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and starch are used to stabilize the sols. Synthesis conditions are varied by adding different amounts of NaOH resulting in interesting changes in pH of the sol formed. NaOH accelerates glucose oxidation to gluconic acid by Ag+. This decreases the pH of the sols, which affects the reduction and the aggregation kinetics. Such kinetic control in presence of different stabilizers leads to formation of interesting anisotropic as well as fractal aggregate silver nanostructures. Coherently scattered domain size obtained from X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the nanoparticles formed gives us important information regarding the kinetics of nucleation. Small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis, necessary for quantitative understanding of different aspects of aggregation behavior, is coupled with the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) behavior information and TEM imaging to delineate various nanostructure characteristics.
