Preparation of Highly Stabilized Silver Nanopowders by the Thermal Reduction and Their Properties

Preparation of Highly Stabilized Silver Nanopowders by the Thermal Reduction and Their Properties

Silver nanopowders were prepared from silver 2-ethylhexylcarbamate (Ag-EHCB) complexes by simple thermal reduction at $85^{\circ}C$ without any reducing agent in organic solvent. 2-Ethylhexylammonium 2-ethylhexylcarbamate (EHAEHC) was investigated in terms of their abilities to stabilize the silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) and its subsequent effects on the preventing aggregation between Ag-NPs. Conditions (concentration of stabilizer and reaction time) used to reduce Ag-EHCB complex were systematically varied to determine their effects on the sizes of Ag-NPs. The formation of the stabilized Ag-NPs were easily monitored by UV-vis spectroscopy and characterized by TGA, TEM, SEM and XRD. When EHAEHC was used as a stabilizer, Ag-NPs of 10-30 nm in diameter were easily obtained in high yield. Silver patterns were obtained from a silver nano-paste by heat treatment at $200^{\circ}C$ in air and were found to have resistivity values of $2.9{\times}10^{-8}\;{\Omega}{\cdot}m$.