Preparation and Structural Characterization of Sol-Gel-Derived Silver Silica Nanocomposite Powders

Abstract

The silver embedded silica powders (Ag/SiO2) have been successfully prepared by sol-gel method. Ag nanoparticles were formed from the thermal decomposition of the silver nitrate. X-ray diffraction shows that the silver nanocrystals have appeared after a heat-treatment at 600 °C. TEM images show that the spherical silver particles with an average size around 30 nm dispersed homogeneously in silica matrix. The data of XRD, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy prove that the formation of the silver nanocrystals influent on the structural evolution of the silica matrix. The presence of metal nanocrystals leads to remarkable decrease in crystallizing temperature of SiO2. In addition, the adsorption-desorption analysis indicated that the growth of Ag particles makes the pores in silica structure widen.