Reduction of silver nitrate solution with some reducing agents was studied to obtain fine silver powder suitable for conductive paste.
In ammoniacal solution, sub-micron spherical silver particles were obtained by use of hydroquinone, pyrogallol, and 3, 4-dihydroxytoluene; uene as a reducing agent. Reduction rates with the reductants were very fast and completed within a few seconds with almost 100% yields.
From the result of X-ray diffraction and the observations of internal structure by transmission electron microscope, it was considered that the spherical particles were resulted from the agglomeration of crystallittes about 20nm in size.
