Investigation of the influence of different surfactants on controlling the size of silver nanoparticles

In this study, silver nanoparticles were synthesised from silver nitrate via a polyol method in ambient atmosphere. In our synthesis route, polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and Tween20 were used as capping agents and their effect studied on controlling the size of Ag nanoparticles while ethylene glycol and ethanol were both used as solvent and reducing agent. The obtained silver nanoparticles were characterised by ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry which indicated the formation of nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) contributed to the particle size analysis. The surface plasmon resonance peak observed in the absorption spectra of the silver colloidal solutions showed absorption from 410 nm to 420 nm in PVP and from 426 nm to 433 nm in Tween20. It was observed that both PVP and Tween20 are capable of complexing and stabilising Ag nanoparticles formed through the reduction of Ag+ ions. In the case of ethylene glycol, it has been shown that the use of PVP leads to solutions with highly concentrated silver nanoparticles.