X-ray radiolysis induced formation of silver nano-particles: A SAXS and UV–visible absorption spectroscopy study

We show that X-ray irradiation of metal salt aqueous solutions in the absence of any stabilizer leads to the synthesis of metal nano-particles, similarly to γ-ray irradiation. The chemical route is the reduction of silver metal ions induced by radiolysis of water. Moreover, X-rays used for the synthesis allow following in situ the formation of silver nano-particles by Small Angle X-ray Scattering associated with UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. The synthesized nano-objects appear spherical with a radius of about 14 nm.