Preparation of Silver Nanoparticles by Using Tripropylene Glycol as the Reducing Agents of Polyol Process

Abstract

Silver (Ag) nanoparticles were prepared by the polyol process using tripropylene glycol, 3-ethyl-3-oxetanemethanol, and polycaprolactone triol as the reducing agents and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) with average molecular weights (M-w) of 10 000, 55 000, and 1 300 000 as the protective agent, respectively. It was found that the sizes of Ag particles were affected by the type of reducing agent, M-w of PVP, the concentration of PVP, reaction temperature, and time. The Ag nanoparticles as small as 34.4 nm were achieved when the reaction was conducted at atmospheric ambient and a temperature of 120 degrees C for 3 h by using tripropylene glycol as the reducing agent and 20 wt.% PVP with an M-w of 55 000. The nanoscale Ag particles with face-centered cubic structure exhibited a strong surface plasmon resonance peak at 350 nm in the UV-visible spectrum.