Preparation of dendritic-like Ag crystals using monocrystalline silicon as template

Symmetric dendritic silver structures with controlled morphology were successfully synthesized by a solvothermal method with the assistance of monocrystalline silicon. The morphology and structure of the dendritic silver were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the architecture of silver crystals could be controlled via simply adjusting the experiment parameters: AgNO3 concentration, reaction time and temperature. Moreover, structural characterizations suggested that the dendritic silver structures preferentially grew along (1 1 1) and (2 0 0) directions, leading to the formation of dendritic structures with 1–2 μm in stem diameter and 10–50 μm in length. Additionally, the formation process of the dendritic silver structures was studied, and a possible formation mechanism was proposed based on the experimental results.

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► Template-assisted method for synthesis of dendritic silver.
► Unique dendritic silver structure with stems, branches, and leaves.
► The morphology of silver depends on silicon surface roughness.
► Both diffusion and oriented attachment dominating the dendritic structure formation.