Influence of injected silver content on synthesis of silver coated nickel particles by DC thermal plasma

Abstract Silver nanoparticle-coated spherical nickel particles were prepared from a mixture of micro-sized silver and nickel as raw materials by DC thermal plasma treatment. The mixture of micro-sized silver and nickel powders was injected into the high-temperature region of an argon thermal plasma jet. Although the silver, with its very high thermal conductivity and relatively low boiling point, was thoroughly evaporated by this process, nickel was not evaporated perfectly because of its comparatively low thermal conductivity and high boiling point. The rough nickel powder was spheroidized as it melted. Finally, silver evaporated by the thermal plasma quickly condensed into nanoparticles on the surfaces of the micro-sized spherical nickel particles, aided by the sharp temperature gradient of the thermal plasma jet. With varying the ratios of silver to nickel feedstock from 1:10 to 5:1, the products synthesized in each condition were examined by XRD, XPS, FE-SEM, and FE-TEM. More silver nanoparticles were attached on the nickel by increasing the injected feedstock to 9.8 at% silver. Meanwhile, a decrease of silver in the products was observed when larger amounts of silver were introduced to the thermal plasma jet. The exposed silver components decreased with greater proportions of silver feedstock because of the metal's dendritic structure and the formation of silver-coated silver particles.