Growth of cotton, spherical and polygonal-like morphologies of silver-polymer nanocomposites

Silver nanostructures with different morphologies have been prepared by direct reduction of silver ions in solution using tannic acid as a reducing agent. Ethylene glycol and poly(ethylene glycol) have been used as dispersing, capping and structure directing agent. XRD analyses showed that the deposited powders after reduction are pure polycrystalline Ag. Various morphologies have been observed for the silver nanoparticles as illustrated from SEM images. Cotton-, dendrite- and sphere-like morphologies are examples of various structures that could be obtained upon using various dispersing agents. This work addresses a simple technique to prepare metallic nanoparticles with various morphologies. The obtained morphologies can find applications in many fields such as catalysis, antimicrobial and in microelectronic connections as a conducting paste.