Silver nanoparticle formation in microemulsions acting both as template and reducing agent

A novel method of making silver nanoparticles in water-in-oil microemulsions using the surfactants as both the reducing agent and as the structure-directing agent is presented. Since no external strong reducing agent is used the kinetics of the formation is slow, which makes it possible to study the silver nanoparticle formation in situ. The microemulsions used were based on either the nonionic surfactant Brij30 (C12E4), which reduces the silver ion to metallic silver and is thereby partly oxidized, or mixtures of Brij30 and AOT (sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate, where the latter does not reduce the silver ions. The influences of silver ion and nonionic surfactant concentrations on the formation kinetics of the nanoparticles were followed in situ using UV-vis spectroscopy, and both parameters were found to have a big influence. The microemulsion droplet's size, size distribution, and shape were examined by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and the formed silver nanoparticles were studied using both transmission electron microscopy and SAXS. The SAXS measurements showed that the presence of silver nitrate does not affect the microemulsion systems noticeably and that the droplet's size and shape are retained during the particle formation. It is shown that the size and morphology of the particles do not directly follow the shape and size of the microemulsion droplets even though there is a relation between the droplet size and the radii of the formed particles.