Controlled Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Highly Monodisperse Ag and Ag2S Nanocrystals

A facile method to control the synthesis and self-assembly of mondisperse Ag and Ag2S nanocrystals with a narrow-size distribution is described. Uniform Ag nanoparticles of less than 4 nm were obtained by thermolysis of Ag oleate complexes in the presence of oleic acid and dodecylamine, and monodisperse Ag nanoparticles of less than 10 nm were also prepared in one step by using dodecylamine and oleic acid as capping agents. Moreover, the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) properties of the Ag substrates have also been investigated. It is worth mentioning that these Ag nanoparticles and assemblies show great differences in the SERS activities of Rhodamine B dye. In addition, the superlattices of Ag2S nanocrystals were synthesized with Ag oleate complexes, alkanethiol, and sulfur as the reactants. The resulting highly monodisperse nanocrystals can easily self-assemble into interesting superstructures in the solution phase without any additional assembly steps. This method may be extended to the size-controlled preparation and assembly of many other noble-metal and transition-metal chalcogenide nanoparticles. These results will aid the study of the physicochemical properties of the superlattice assemblies and construction of functional macroscopic architectures or devices.