Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles by Continuous Flow Plasma Discharge with D-Xylose

The scalable production of high-quality nanoparticles is a significant challenge for advancing nanotechnology applications. This research introduces a continuous-flow liquid-plasma discharge reactor for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, utilizing D-xylose as a dual-function reducing and stabilizing agent. The reactor effectively generated uniform xylose-capped silver nanoparticles (X-Ag NPs). Optimal conditions were established utilizing argon gas at a 1:100 molar ratio of Ag precursor to D-xylose, resulting in spherical X-Ag NPs with an average size of 16.89 nm, a zeta potential of -38.87 mV, and a polydispersity index of 0.22. The formation and properties of X-Ag NPs were confirmed through characterization techniques including UV-Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The findings demonstrate that uniform particle nucleation and growth occurred due to the homogeneous distribution of high-energy electrons and reactive gas species produced in the plasma phase. This environmentally sustainable, continuous-flow method shows considerable promise for the industrial-scale production of biomass-derived silver nanoparticles.