Dendritic Nanostructures of Silver:  Facile Synthesis, Structural Characterizations, and Sensing Applications

Abstract

Silver nanodendrites are synthesized by a simple surfactant-free method using a suspension of zinc microparticles as a heterogeneous reducing agent. Structural characterizations suggest the preferential growth along 100 and 111 directions by oriented attachment of silver nanocrystals in the diffusion limit, leading to the formation of silver nanodendrites 20-30 nm in stem and branch diameter and 5-50 microm in length. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering studies show that the silver nanodentrites give an intensive and enhanced Raman scattering when pyridine was used as a probing molecule. We have also demonstrated that the silver nanodendrites increase the sensitivity of an electrochemical glucose biosensor by as much as 1-2 orders of magnitude.

Development and characterization of a nanodendritic silver-based solid-phase extraction sorbent for selective enrichment of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in water and milk samples

“…No Zn peak was observed, indicating complete reaction of the Zn precursor accompanied by the formation of Ag nanodendrites. Our results are in good agreement with previous reports [5].…”

“…However, the potential applications of these nanodendritic materials as adsorbents in sample preparations have not yet been explored. Silver nanodendrites, which were formed using finely dispersed Zn microparticles as a reducing agent [5], might be used as a potential substrate for the preparation of an SPE sorbent.…”

Insight into the fabrication and perspective of dendritic Ag nanostructures

“…where D can be calculated with a box-counting algorithm [99]. After plotting log (N(r)) vs. log (1/r), the value of D can be calculated from the slope.…”

Surface enhanced Raman scattering of new acridine based fluorophore adsorbed on silver electrode

“…Currently the SERS method is used for both the study of surface itself [1][2][3][4] and the investigation of the adsorbed molecules [5][6][7][8][9]. In terms of adsorption chemistry SERS is particularly valuable because there are no alternative locally sensitive methods for the investigation the state of the adsorbate.…”