Study on the Formation of Nanometer Silver Sol by Micro Arc Discharge

Abstract

A preparation of nanometer silver sol by micro arc discharge has been study here through the reduction of Ag3PO4. Sodium citrate and polyvinylpyrrolidone were added respectively into the electrolyte as stabilizer. The results show that, the Ag3PO4 concentration, stabilizer type and concentration have great impacts on the formation of the nanometer silver sol. By means of UV-VIS extinction spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer, it is found that the solid powder extracted from the electrolyte solution after discharge is the aggregation of the silver formed in the solution and their original size maybe less than 20nm. Nanometer silver with smaller size and narrower size distribution can be obtained with sodium citrate as stabilizer than with polyvinylpyrrolidone. But the latter has higher conversion rate. From this experiment, we found that micro arc discharge can be a rapid, stable preparation method of nanometer silver sol.