Abstract
The mechanism and kinetics on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using anhydrous dextrose as the reducing agent are discussed here. The keys to the success of this process rely on the quantity of alkaline for silver conversion and PVP for keeping silver colloids in the nanometer range. Complete conversion can be achieved when sufficient NaOH (molar ratio to AgNO3 of 1.5) is added for this synthesis reaction: 2 Ag+ + C6H12O6 + 3OH- --> 2 Ag + C6H12O7- + 2 H2O. The rate-determining step is speculated to be the attack of alkaline ion to dextrose (reducing agent) to liberate two electrons to convert silver ion to silver. Our kinetic data fitted well according to this mechanism and its activation energy is determined to be around 34.6 Kcal/mole. Other characteristics of silver colloids, such as morphology, particle size and crystal structure will also be reported as functions of synthesis parameters.
