Synthesis of flower-like silver nanoarchitectures at room temperature

Novel flower-like silver nanoarchitectures were synthesized via a facile and environmentally benign route in the presence of citric acid and ascorbic acid. The flower-like structures are composed of nano-petals of ca. 20 nm in thickness. The products were characterized with X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The growth mechanism of flower-like silver nanoarchitectures involves a film-fold process. Some crucial factors affect the nanocrchitectures growth, such as, pH, the concentration of citric acid, and the concentration of ascorbic acid, have also been discussed.