Three-Step, Seed-Mediated Synthesis of Ultrathin AgNWs in Aqueous Solution

Abstract

Mass production of ultrathin Ag nanowires (AgNWs) via eco-friendly synthetic methods is crucial for current flexible electronic products. Herein, we reported a three-step, seedmediated synthesis of ultrathin AgNWs with an average diameter of −17 nm and an aspect ratio of ∼1000 in aqueous solution. Using pentatwinned Au dodecahedrons as the primitive seeds for growing Ag nanorods (AgNRs), ultrathin AgNWs were obtained in the subsequent growth process with AgNRs as the secondary seeds under optimized conditions. Both Au seeds and AgNRs were directly used as seeds without any purifying treatment. High purity AgNWs could be harvested from a simple precipitation process taking advantage of the depletion-induced sediment method. It was found that the one-dimensional growth of AgNRs and AgNWs was mainly determined by the reduction rate in forming Ag 0 , which could be tuned by varying the molar ratio of AgNO 3 to ascorbic acid, the concentrations of NH 3 •H 2 O and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide, as well as the pH value of the reaction solution. The developed method might be competitive with traditional polyol-based synthesis of ultrathin AgNWs as the reaction condition is much milder and free of a time-consuming purification process.

Metal nanowire-based transparent electrode for flexible and stretchable optoelectronic devices

“…Various synthesis methods have been developed to obtain a high-performing MNW with uniform morphologies and high yields, mainly including templatebased and chemical methods. [62][63][64][65]…”

Stretchable conductors for stretchable field-effect transistors and functional circuits

“…By using the depletion-induced sediment method, high-purity AgNWs (an average diameter of ∼17 nm, aspect ratio ∼1000) were synthesized by a three-step seed-mediated from a facile precipitation process. 319…”

“…By using the depletion-induced sediment method, high-purity AgNWs (an average diameter of B17 nm, aspect ratio B1000) were synthesized by a three-step seedmediated from a facile precipitation process. 319 Notably, low density of junctions between AgNWs is a key factor to increase the electrode conductivity for forming an effective percolation network. Thus, the nanowires not only have ultra-length, but also have excellent dispersibility.…”

Fast synthesis of silver nanowires at room temperatureviaultrasonication-mediated galvanic replacement for flexible transparent electrodes

“…16 Recently, many preparation methods have been reported, including the polyol method, [17][18][19] template method, 20,21 wet chemical method, 22,23 photo-reduction method, 24 and seedmediated method. 25 Previous studies demonstrated that the polyol method is the most promising strategy, but it usually requires high-temperature and high-pressure conditions and its final products need to go through complicated purification, 26 which undoubtedly increases the cost of preparation. Moreover, if polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is not thoroughly removed after the synthesis, the electrical performance is compromised.…”