Formation of silver nanorods by microwave heating in the presence of gold seeds

In this paper, we report the use of rapid microwave (MW) heating to prepare silver nanorods. The procedure we describe is one in which a silver salt is reduced to silver metal by the action of sodium citrate in the presence of gold seeds. We have characterized the silver products by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffractometry, and electron diffraction. The key requirement for producing the silver nanorods in a high aspect ratio is an adequate MW heating time.