Direct synthesis of silver nanoparticles in ionic liquid

Ionic liquids have structural organization at nanoscale that can trigger the spontaneous ordering of structures in nanoscopic range. Due to this characteristic, several metal nanoparticles have been prepared in this media. In this paper, we describe the direct preparation of silver nanoparticles in the following imidazolium ionic liquids: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, 1,2-dimethyl-3-butylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, and in citrate tetrabutylammonium, that is an ionic liquid that acts as solvent and reducing agent at the same time. We also evaluated the morphology of the nanoparticles and the stability of the dispersions. Spherical silver nanoparticles with surface Plasmon bands in the range of 400-430 nm were produced in all the ionic liquids, with the only exception for the 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide that produced a black precipitate. The best results were obtained by using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide and citrate tetrabutylammonium ionic liquids. The former resulted in concentrated spherical silver nanoparticles dispersion (ca. 1.0 mM of Ag) with diameters ranging from 6 to 12 nm and by adding polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to the dispersions they became stable for at least 1 month. The citrate tetrabutylammonium ionic liquid produced even more concentrated dispersion of spherical silver nanoparticles with diameters ranging from 2 to 6 nm. These dispersions were quite stable without the need of PVP, since the Plasmon band in the electronic absorption spectra remained unaltered for months after the preparation. The citrate tetrabutylammonium ionic liquid offers a slow kinetic for the silver nanoparticle formation as the citrate is a milder reducing agent than borohydride.