A Facile Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Based on Poly-L-Lysine

In this paper, we report a novel synthesis method for silver nanoparticles with facilely controllable morphology under mild conditions. The particles were synthesized by reducing silver nitrate in the presence of water soluble polymer of poly-L-Lysine (PLL) which was used as reducing agent and stabilizer. Experimental results revealed that size variation and overall formation mechanism of the resulting silver particles were mostly determined by the conformation of PLL which was in turn controlled by pH of solution and temperature. Due to biological activity and response ability of PLL to outer stimuli, the method provides a facile and controllable method for producing silver particles with different morphologies. We believe that the synthesis method will contribute to applications of the PLL and silver particles in biomaterials.