A Simple and Fast Aqueous-Phase Synthesis of Ultra-Highly Concentrated Silver Nanoparticles and Their Catalytic Properties

A simple and fast synthetic route to ultra-highly concentrated silver nanoparticles with long-term stability by reducing AgNO3 with ascorbic acid in the presence of polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a stabilizer in an aqueous phase is reported. The concentration of silver precursor was as high as 2000 mm (200 g of Ag nanoparticle per liter of water) and the reaction time was less than 10 min. The resulting silver nanoparticles show long-term stability after two months of storage at room temperature without any signs of particle aggregation or precipitation in an aqueous phase. The successful ligand exchange of PEI-stabilized silver nanoparticles to polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) without particle aggregation is also demonstrated. In addition, the catalytic activities of silver nanoparticles stabilized by various stabilizers prepared by the ligand exchange method was investigated. The PEI-stabilized silver nanoparticles exhibited a higher stability than those of PEG- and PVP-stabilized silver nanoparticles in the diffusion-controlled catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol by NaBH4 .