Morphologies of silver films fabricated by thermal decomposition of silver behenate

Various morphologies of silver films fabricated by the thermal decomposition of silver behenate have been studied. The morphological structures of silver behenate films at different heating temperatures are characterized by using SEM, IR and XRD. It is found that, while heating the silver behenate films, the formed silver particles are stabilized by the other thermal decomposition products in the range of 193 degrees C similar to 320 degrees C. The influence of silver behenate concentration in organic solvent on the formation and packing density of as-fabricated silver films by thermal treatment on the silver behenate films at 500 degrees C has been studied. The results show that the silver film fabricated by a millimolar solution of silver behenate possesses a silver monolayer; the silver thick film can be formed at high concentration, and interestingly, silver particles with regular triangular or truncated triangular shape in the silver thick film are also obtained.