Silver nanostructures via cementation on copper: a comparison between experimental data and statistical design model

Silver nanostructures have been precipitated successfully from acidic solutions of silver ions via cementation on copper sheets. The experimental parameters that have been studied are time, temperature of reaction, pH and initial silver ion concentration. XRD analysis showed that precipitated silver particles werecomposed mainly of metallic silver. No other phases such as silver oxide, sulfide or sulfate could be detected. SEM investigations confirmed that silver nanostructures were deposited mainly in the form of nanoparticles, dendrites or nanorods as the parameters varied. The average silver nanoparticle size that could be obtained by optimizing the experimental conditions of cementation process was about 60 nm. This value was in agreement with that obtained from application of factorial design under the same conditions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.