Synthesis of silver nanoparticles by electron irradiation of silver acetate

A novel and facile route to synthesize crystalline silver nanoparticles is presented, which is based on electron irradiation technique. Only by irradiating an electron beam onto silver acetate precursor material, silver nanocrystals with the sizes of 15–40 nm were synthesized. The morphology and chemical composition of the irradiated samples were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD and EELS. The precursor material was decomposed by the energetic electrons and consequently the chemical composition of the material was changed. As the electron fluence was gradually increased, the precursor was converted to silver (I) oxide and finally into silver nanocrystals. Thus, besides silver nanoparticles, silver oxide film can also be synthesized using the electron irradiation technique by controlling the electron fluence. The technique can be useful for mass production of silver nanoparticles and for patterned silver nanoparticle film.