Synthesis of anisotropic silver nanostructures in presence of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP): LSPR and SAXS analysis

We study polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) stabilization of aqueous phase silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) sols. Glucose is used as the reducing agent. Addition of increasing amounts of NaOH cause interesting variations in sol pH and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) behavior. The LSPR information is coupled with small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis and TEM imaging to delineate various nanoparticle characteristics. Both fractal aggregate nanostructures and anisotropic objects are found to form under different NaOH conditions.

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► PVP stabilized Ag nanoparticles by chemical reduction route in aqueous medium.
► Varying NaOH amount critical in determining nanostructures formed.
► Anisotropic and fractal aggregate nanostructures obtained.
► LSPR behavior complements SAXS analysis.