The effects of physicochemical parameters on the synthesis of silver nanowires via polyol method

Abstract

The potential applications of one-dimensional nanostructured materials widely depend on their shape and size. This paper deals with a method for synthesizing and characterizing silver nanowires through an organic solution. The so-called polyol method was used to synthesize silver nanowires in which ethylene glycol was used as both media and the reducing agent. Adequate CuCl2/ethylene glycol solution is used to prohibit chemical etching by the oxygen on nanowires surfaces. The effects of CuCl2 concentration and the addition rate of AgNO3 were examined. It was revealed that by optimizing the parameters, silver nanowires with aspect ratios of up to 32 are accessible. To characterize the structure and morphology of nanowires, X-ray powder diffraction, UV–Vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used.