Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

390

Date

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Physics

Committee Member

Sanjay Raj Mishra

Committee Member

Lam Yu

Committee Member

Muhammad Shah Jahan

Abstract

Stable aqueous silver nanoparticles were synthesized by wet chemical method in the presence of Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Polyethylene glycol (PEG). A mixture of two stabilizing agents PVP and PEG is found to play a crucial role in controlling the morphology of silver nanocrystalline (NC) particles. This is inferred based on the shape and size study of nanocrystalline silver using the X-ray diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and Surface enhanced Raman studies. These results suggest asymmetrical growth of silver nanocrystalline particles in the presence of both PVP and PEG. Comparison of the thermal properties of the Ag-PVP-PEG composite with pure polymers showed that the thermal stability of the composite deteriorates by as much as 75 oC in the presence of low PEG concentration and improves by around 45 oC at higher concentration of PEG. The study highlights the fact that the morphology of nanocrystalline silver can be altered just by varying the polymer weight ratios rather than any processing parameters, thus offering a simple and controlled synthesis route to the formation of desired nanocrystalline silver.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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