Synthesis of single-crystalline silver sulfide nanowires by diffusion in porous anodic aluminium oxide template

Highly ordered single-crystalline silver sulfide (Ag2S) nanowires have been successfully achieved directly using silver nitrate and thioacetamide (TAA) as the reactants, by diffusion in the channels of anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) membrane. The products have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The results of the research show that the as-prepared Ag2S nanowires are monodisperse with sizes of about 50 nm in diameter, closely corresponding to the pore size of the AAO membrane. Furthermore, its photoluminescence properties and the growth mechanism are also discussed.