Synthesis of powdered silver nanoparticles using hydrogen in aqueous medium

Environmentally benign one-pot protocol is used in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in powder form, involving the reduction of silver nitrate in the presence of fully hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as stabilizer by hydrogen (H-2) as reducing agent in aqueous medium. Fully hydrolyzed biodegradable PVA has extremely low cytotoxicity, making it a favorable stabilizer from green perspective. In the present methodology, essentially naked silver nanoparticles are obtained in good yield. The prepared silver nanoparticles were characterized by TEM, XRD, EDAX, UV-Vis spectroscopy and DLS histogram, and studied for its activity as a recyclable catalyst for synthesis of different enaminones. (C) 2011 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.