Towards automation of the polyol process for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles

TL;DR

This paper presents an automated method for synthesizing silver nanoparticles with controlled size and reproducibility using the polyol process, addressing issues of polydispersity and size tunability.

Contribution

It introduces an automated approach for on-demand synthesis of silver nanoparticles with adjustable sizes, improving reproducibility and control over particle properties.

Findings

Automated synthesis yields reproducible colloids.

Nanoparticles with mean radii of 3 and 5 nm achieved.

Characterization confirms tunable and consistent particle properties.

Abstract

Metal nanoparticles have a substantial impact across different fields of science, such as photochemistry, energy conversion, and medicine. Among the commonly used nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles are of special interest due to their antibacterial properties and applications in sensing and catalysis. However, many of the methods used to synthesize silver nanoparticles often do not result in well-defined products, the main obstacles being high polydispersity or a lack of particle size tunability. We describe an automated approach to on-demand synthesis of adjustable particles with mean radii of 3 and 5 nm using the polyol route. The polyol process is a promising route for silver nanoparticles e.g., to be used as reference materials. We characterised the as-synthesized nanoparticles using small-angle X-ray scattering, dynamic light scattering and further methods, showing that automated synthesis can yield colloids with reproducible and tuneable properties.