Synthesis of silver nanorings via a facile one-pot method

We herein report a new polyol-based method for the synthesis of silver nanorings. The effects of the molecular weight of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), the concentration of KBr, the reaction time, and stirring speed on the final morphologies of these silver nanorings were studied. The structures of these silver nanorings were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and UV-Vis spectrophotometer. In addition, the conditions for the growth of the silver nanorings were optimized, and the growth mechanism of these silver nanorings was explored. The results show that the formation and the morphology of silver nanorings are closely related to the molecular weight of PVP, the KBr concentration, the reaction time, and the stirring speed. Herein, the silver nanorings were obtained with a ring-diameter of similar to 10 mu m and wire diameters in the range of 20-40 nm. This family of silver nanorings with well-defined ring structures has great potential for applications in nanoscale photonics, plasma devices, and optical manipulation.