Self-organized synthesis of silver chainlike and dendritic nanostructures via a solvothermal method

Well-defined silver chainlike and dendritic nanostructures with fractal features were self-organized via a simple solvothermal method using poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) as an adsorption agent and architecture soft template. The branching fractal morphology was reasonably explained by using the Cayley tree model. There is no obvious boundary observed at necks between continuous Ag particles. With prolonging reaction duration, the necks disappear, and the growth of the chainlike silver leads to the formation of the Ag dendritic nanostructure and nanowires. The formation of the Ag dendritic nanostructure can be explained as a process of initial reduction-nucleation-adsorption-growth-branching-growth.