Facile controlled synthesis of silver particles with high catalytic activity

Properties of metal particles (MPs) are largely dependent on preparation method and morphology. Herein, we report a new facile synthesis route of silver particles (AgPs) in which growth pattern of AgPs can be easily controlled and some novel morphologies are achieved. In this strategy, cheap organic acids are selected as growth regulators for the morphology control of AgPs, and the concentration of organic acid plays a key role in the formation of AgPs. Furthermore, the effects of number of carbon atom in organic acids on the morphology of AgPs were investigated. With increase of number of carbon atom in organic acids, the morphology of AgPs will change from plate to sphere. These results presented here are vital to both exploration of growth theory and constructing novel morphologies of AgPs not only in this paper but also possibly other system. Moreover, catalytic activity of these prepared AgPs was studied toward reduction of p-nitrophenol by NaBH4. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.