Electrochemical synthesis of silver nanoparticles

Silver polarisation in non-aqueous solution of NaNO3 in ethanol was investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. A deposit consisting of metallic silver nanoparticles has been obtained by both potentiostatic and galvanostatic method. The proposed mechanism assumes that both anodic dissolution of silver and its reduction to metallic state proceed during polarisation in ethanol. The described process is a new and very simple method of producing silver nanoparticles.