Synthesis of Ag/SiO2 nanocomposite material by adsorption phase nanoreactor technique

Ag/SiO2 nanocomposite was synthesized in a nanoreactor formed by adsorption layer on silica surface. Ag nanoparticles were prepared by the reduction of Ag ion with ethanol at alkaline condition. By using TEM and XRD, the effects of NaOH concentration, water and temperature on the appearance and grain size of Ag particles were analyzed, respectively. The adsorption curve of NaOH was measured by electrical conductivity meter. The experiment result revealed that Ag grain size decreased while increasing NaOH concentration or while increasing water in our system. Ag grain size increased with the increase of temperature. And Ag aggregated seriously when temperature is up to 60 degrees C. Finally, after exploring the optimum conditions of reaction, we successfully obtained the well-distributed Ag nanoparticles on surface of silica, and average grain size of Ag nanoparticles reached 5 nm. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.