Sol-gel synthesis of nanosilver embedded hybrid materials using combined organosilica precursors

A facile sol-gel route to the fabrication of size-controllable nanosilver embedded hybrid materials at room-temperature is presented. The preparation process involves using three kind of organosilica precursors, i.e. tetraethoxysilane, 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane and polymethylhydrosiloxane, which behaved as framework constructor, complexing agent toward metal ions and in situ reducing agent for Ag+ ions, respectively, under alcohol-rich synthesis conditions. The prepared hybrid materials were characterized by Ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra, Fourier transform infrared, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements. It was shown that well-dispersed silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with small particle size were successfully embedded in the hybrid skeleton, and the mean particle size of AgNPs could be controlled at ca. 2-5 nm.