Green “planting” nanostructured single crystal silver

Abstract

Design and fabrication of noble metal nanocrystals have attracted much attention due to their wide applications in catalysis, optical detection and biomedicine. However, it still remains a challenge to scale-up the production in a high-quality, low-cost and eco-friendly way. Here we show that single crystalline silver nanobelts grow abundantly on the surface of biomass-derived monolithic activated carbon (MAC), using [Ag(NH3)2]NO3 aqueous solution only. By varying the [Ag(NH3)2]NO3 concentration, silver nanoplates or nanoflowers can also be selectively obtained. The silver growth was illustrated using a galvanic-cell mechanism. The lowering of cell potential via using [Ag(NH3)2]+ precursor, together with the AgCl crystalline seed initiation, and the releasing of OH− in the reaction process, create a stable environment for the self-compensatory growth of silver nanocrystals. Our work revealed the great versatility of a new type of template-directed galvanic-cell reaction for the controlled growth of noble metal nanocrystals.

Tunable growth of silver nanobelts on monolithic activated carbon with size-dependent plasmonic response

“…It is imperative to understand why the nanobelt size can be greatly reduced from micrometer 25 to nanometer scale. Figure 5 displays the synthestic procedure of Ag nanobelts on MAC ( see Methods for more detail) in this work.…”

“…In our previous work 23 24 25 , a new method was developed to growing Ag micro/nano structures on monolithic activated carbon (MAC). Briefly, the functional groups on the interior surfaces, i.e., in the micropores of MAC (with sufficiently high BET area) caused the reduction of Ag + ions on the exterior surface of MAC through a galvanic-cell mechanism.…”

“…The micropores of MAC do not confine the shape and size of Ag products, in contrast to commonly used substrates such as anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) containing cylindrical channels 20 26 . Rather, various structures such as dendrites 23 , belts, plates, flowers 25 and cages 24 can be selectively prepared by changing the identity and concentration of Ag precursors and modifying the MAC pretreatment. In particular, Ag belts can be routinely prepared in a large scale.…”

Environmental application of millimetre-scale sponge iron (s-Fe0) particles (III): The effect of surface silver

“…Second, the two-dimensional growth of Ag 0 determined the unique XRD results (e.g. nanosheets [38]). Herein, the growth of Ag 0 decoration on the surface of s-Fe 0 was dominated primarily by the (111) facet, which are highly oriented structures parallel to the surface of the supporting materials [39].…”

Morphological characterization and impedance spectroscopy study of porous 3D carbons based on graphene foam-PVA/phenol-formaldehyde resin composite as an electrode material for supercapacitors

“…Moreover, peaks between 1374-1548 cm −1 were observed which are probably due to the aromatic C=C bond. In addition, the peaks at 2360 cm −1 were attributed to C-H vibrational modes and the broad peak at 3175 cm −1 is attributed to the symmetrical stretching vibration of -OH groups 35 .…”