Seed-mediated approach for the size-controlled synthesis of flower-like Ag mesostructures

Flower-like Ag mesostructures with the sizes in the range of 200 nm to 700 nm have been synthesized via a simple seed-mediated approach. The size-tunable synthesis can be easily attained by adjusting the concentration of Ag seeds. The obtained Ag mesostructures are assembled by primary Ag nanosheets, which exhibit a flower-like architecture. None of surfactant was involved during the synthesis process, and thus, these Ag mesostructures hold the chemically clean surfaces. Compare to the previous approach for flower-like Ag mesostructures, the present method is not only simple and reliable, but also exhibits the advantages both in green procedure and size controllable. These flower-like Ag mesostructures reveal large surface area and can serve as highly efficient catalysis for the NaBH4 reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.