Preparation of nanostructure silver powders by mechanical decomposing and mechanochemical reduction of silver oxide

The mechanical decomposing and mechanochemical reductions of silver oxide for preparation of nanocrystalline silver powders by high planetary ball mill was investigated. XRD and HRSEM techniques were used to characterize the structural evolution and morphological changes of products. The results show that the nanostructured silver with an average crystallite size of 14 nm and internal strain of 0.75% is synthesized by mechanical decomposing of Ag2O after 95 h milling. While, the product of mechanochemical reduction of silver oxide using graphite after 22 h milling is nanostructured silver with an average crystallite size of 28 nm and internal strain of 0.44%.