Design of growing points for silver nanoparticles on polypropylene membranes

The nucleation process of a nanoparticle requires an environment that stabilizes the initial seed and favors the growth action. In this paper, we present a specific design of growing points for silver nanoparticles based on the well-known affinity of the silver to the chlorine atoms and to aromatic groups by cation-pi interactions. [2-(vinylphenyl) ethyl] chloromethylphenylsilane was proposed as growing point of nanoparticles, which has been synthetized and grafted on a polypropylene membrane. Nanoparticles were synthesized by chemically reducing an AgNO3 solution with NaBH4 and the so synthesized nanoparticles were also fully characterized. Using DFT-QTAIM calculations a model of the initial seed and a growth mechanism were proposed. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.