Sols of silver nanoparticles in toluene were studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy (10 -3 -10 5 Hz). The frequency dependences of the specific alternating current (ac) conductiv ity and the complex electric modulus were used to estimate the temperature/frequency inter vals of long and short range charge transfer occurs, respectively. A considerable increase (by more than 30°С) in the Vogel temperature T 0 and the glass transition temperature T g in sols compared with the pure solvent was found. It can be hypothesized that these cooperative effects reflect the initial stage of the superlattice formation. Although the dielectric characteristics of sols are generally controlled by the conductivity relaxation, the dielectric response was ob served in the high frequency range (1-10 3 Hz) at low temperatures (from -50 to +10°С). This response results from the presence of nanoparticles in solution. It is supposed that the relaxation is caused by the motion of ion impurities on the Ag nanoparticle surface within the carboxylate ligands shell. The dielectric properties of films strongly depend on both the characteristics of nanoparticles and the conditions of the film preparation. Like in sols, the direct current (dc) conductivity and the dielectric response of Ag nanoparticles in films are due to ion impurities.Key words: sols of silver nanoparticles, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, chemical sensors.As noted previously, 1 an important problem of the modern nanoindustry is the manufacture of stable mono disperse nanoparticles (NP) able to spontaneously form ordered 2D and 3D structures, so called superlattices, upon concentration. 2 From this standpoint, silver NP are of considerable interest as they combine valuable optical, catalytic, and other properties and are readily accessible. 3 The currently known methods for the synthesis of silver NP 4 mainly imply the use of multicomponent dilute sys tems at silver ion concentrations of 10 -3 -10 -4 mol L -1 , which hampers isolation of reasonable amounts of NP from the final sol. Therefore, particular attention is at tracted by the synthesis of silver NP by reducing silver carboxylates based on fatty acids with tertiary alklylamines first described by Yamamoto et al. 5 Characteristic features of the synthesis of silver NP from various low molecular weight carboxylates in triethylamine and their effect on the characteristics of the obtained NP were studied. 1 We made an attempt to investigate the initial stages of the self assembly of NP in a sol.
ExperimentalThe synthesis and characteristics of samples have been de scribed in detail previously. 1 Silver carboxylate based on saturat ed tetradecanoic acid CH 3 (СН 2 ) 12 СООН was prepared by the reaction of the sodium salt of the acid with AgNO 3 in water. The carboxylate was reduced with triethylamine, which acted simul taneously as the reducing agent and as the reaction medium, at Т = 348 К under argon. The resulting silver NP had a rather narrow size distribution and an average radius of 1 nm and were coated with ...