Self-Assembly of Silver Nanoparticles:  Synthesis, Stabilization, Optical Properties, and Application in Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

Abstract

Silver nanoparticle aggregates were synthesized in large scale using resorcinol under alkaline condition to obtain an assembly of silver clusters. Stable dispersion of the cluster in aqueous medium has been examined out of resorcinol-capped silver nanoparticle assemblies. The UV-vis spectroscopy during the particle evolution has been studied in detail. From the high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) image and XRD pattern it was confirmed that the particles are made of pure silver only. The capping action of resorcinol has been authenticated from the FTIR spectra. UV-vis spectroscopy and TEM images reveal that the temperature, effect of vibrational energy, heat shock, and time-dependent particle evolution have unique bearing on the stability and surface properties of the clusters. The concentrations of silver nitrate, resorcinol, and NaOH have important influence on the particle evolution and its size. TEM images incite us to examine the aggregates to capitulate surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) to the single molecular level using crystal violet (CV) and cresyl fast violet (CFV) as molecular probes. The SERS intensity of CV increases with increasing the size of the silver aggregate.

Effect of Organic Stabilizers on Silver Nanoparticles Fabricated by Femtosecond Pulsed Laser Ablation

“…Unfortunately, those colloidal suspensions formed in pure water are highly unstable because the bare plasmonic NPs tend to aggregate, forming clusters that destabilize the solution-especially if high-concentration suspensions need to be prepared. This problem is also present for plasmonic NPs fabricated by colloidal synthesis [38][39][40], and is usually solved by using stabilizing molecules that inhibit the formation of aggregates. Stabilizer molecules such as sodium dodecyl sulphate [41][42][43], hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide [43], cyclodextrins [44], various salts (e.g., KCl, NaCl, and NaOH) [20], or polyvinylpyrrolidone [17] have been successfully applied to perform PLA in liquids, and their effects in nanocrystal size and stability have been studied; however, the ablation conditions in these experiments usually lead to low-concentration solutions.…”

Comparative Studies on the Quick Recognition of Melamine Using Unmodified Gold Nanoparticles and p‐Nitrobenzenesulfonic Grafted Silver Nanoparticles

“…2B. 20 Two methods developed here are much simpler than the existing methods and they do not require any expensive instrumentation. 2 The excellent properties substantially enable the practical application for on-the-spot detection of melamine at a very low level.…”

Preparation of hollow multiple-Ag-nanoclustes-C-shell nanostructures and their catalytic properties

“…In general, nanometer-size metallic particles possess high surface-to-volume ratio [1][2][3], which contribute significantly to their outstanding physical [4,5], chemical [6][7][8][9][10] and biological [11,12] properties. However, it is essential to achieve desirable dispersion of smaller metal nanoparticles (NPs) to exploit their functions to the greatest degree, which otherwise will be jeopardized by aggregation of the particles [13][14][15][16].…”