Preparation and characterization of nanostructured silver particles by one-step spray pyrolysis

Recently nanostructured silver particles have received much attention due to their wide applications in conductors, electrical contacts, catalysts and wound dressing. Although various methods have been applied to produce silver particles, the spray pyrolysis (SP) process has an advantage in its low cost and feasibility for mass production. The majority of the previous studies using the SP process focused on particle size control by adjusting concentration of silver nitrate salts. However there are few reports investigating the correlation between particle morphologies and precursor types. Here we have prepared silver particles from silver acetate salts using the SP process. The morphology and size of the synthesized silver particles were characterized. Two types of the silver particles, a mixture of nano and submicron particles, and nano-convex particles, were obtained through the control of the calcination temperatures. Finally, a formation mechanism of nanostructured silver particles using SP process was proposed.

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► Solid and nano-convex silver particles are synthesized by spray pyrolysis.
► XRD, TEM and the BET method examine the structures of the silver particles.
► A formation mechanism of nanostructured silver particles was proposed.