Synthesis and characterization of Ag/PVA nanocomposite by chemical reduction method

Silver/poly(vinylalcohol) nanocomposites are prepared via in situ reduction of silver salt by employing two different reducing agents, namely, hydrazine hydrate and sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate (SFS). Reduction of silver salt in aqueous PVA with SFS is done for the first ever time. The solutions and the films are characterized by using UV-vis, photoluminescence (PL), FTIR spectroscopy, XRD, SEM, TEM and thermal analysis. XRD patterns are consistent with that for cubic silver. SEM of the nanocomposite film shows uniform particles distribution within the film. The particle size is found to be less than 10 nm based on TEM. TGA showed that the composite has higher degradation temperature than the PVA alone.