N. Yang, K. Aoki, H. Nagasawa
Sep 4, 2004
Citations
2
Influential Citations
34
Citations
Journal
Journal of Physical Chemistry B
Abstract
Nanoparticles composed of a silver stearate shell and a silver core became metallic bulk silver by heating at a temperature (340 °C) lower than the melting point of silver metal (960 °C). The metallization was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis, difference thermogravimetric analysis, FT-IR and UV−vis spectroscopy, electrochemical techniques, scanning electron microscopy, and measurements of the density of the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles decreased in mass by 20%, which was equivalent to the amount of the stearate shell. The low-temperature metallization resulted from the thermal decomposition of the shell of silver stearate into silver species. It involved two steps. The first, occurring at 250 °C, was the decomposition to porous silver particles through the first-order reaction with an activation energy of 111 kJ mol-1. The second, occurring at 340 °C, was a structure change from porous particles to silver bulk crystals.