M. Shakouri-Arani, M. Salavati-Niasari / Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 133 (2014) 463–471
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indicate that presence of surfactant and type of solvent are effective
on the size regularity of particles. thio Schiff-base ligand playing
both complexing agent role and sulfuring agent role. Herein, the
possible process could be explained in the following step: First, thio
Schiff-base (2-(benzylidene-amino)-benzenthiol) was prepared
with benzaldehyde and 2-aminothiophenol, in the second step,
metal salt was dissolved in propylene glycol and interaction occurs
between solvent OH groups and Ag+. when the former solution was
dropped into the latter solution under stirring, interaction occurs
between ligand N and S groups with Ag+ and upon heating a reac-
tion medium up to a sufficiently high temperature, the precursors
chemically transform into active atomic or molecular species, form-
ing nanocrystals whose subsequent growth is greatly affected by
the presence of ligand and solvent molecules, which can prevent
particle further growth and aggregation. Given this probable mech-
anism, thio Schiff-base ligand in hydrothermal system completely
has been destructed and finally was produced Ag2S without any
possible impurity phases such as remaining of thio Schiff-base
and S because The strong and sharp reflection peaks in the XRD pat-
tern confirms pure Ag2S nanocrystals. In addition, in the next sec-
tions we will see energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and
Fourier transform infrared FT-IR spectrums imprinted seal of
approval on the purity produced Ag2S nanoparticles.
EDAX analysis of Ag2S nanoparticles is illustrated in Fig. 2. The
lines of Ag and S are obviously observed. In addition, neither N
nor C signals were detected in the EDAX spectrum, which means
there exist no possible impurity phases such as organic sulfur
source or propylene glycol in spherical Ag2S nanoparticles. FT-IR
of the complex of Ag(NO3) with ligand synthesized and Ag2S nano-
particles prepared at temperature of 160 °C for 12 h in hydrother-
mal method with solvent of propylene glycol are shown in
Fig. 3(a) and (b) respectively. Absorptions of 3442, 1569, 739, 611
and 477 cmÀ1 in Fig 3(a) related to OAH, C@N, CAS, AgAN and AgAS
bands respectively and weak absorption appeared in 1631.78 cmÀ1
in spectrum of Ag2S attributed to the presence of a small amount of
sulfur-containing ligands adsorbed on the surface of Ag2S, an
absorption at 3441.32 cmÀ1 is related to stretching vibrations of
OAH bond.
20,000) which they are illustrated in Fig. 5a–c, respectively. SEM
images of as product Ag in presence of SDS are shown in Fig. 5a;
sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as an anionic surfactant can self
aggregate into cubic, hexagonal and lamellar structures [29,30]. In
this paper, we used this unique SDS cubic structure. For anionic sur-
factants it seems SDS capped Ag2+ and with this approach limited
the formation of Ag2S and it will lead to reduction of Ag2S to Ag. Also
SDS, as an anionic surfactant, has different influence on the
morphology. Due to its amphiphilic nature, it forms stable micelles
in solvent in which spherical nanostructures form easily [31].
CTAB as a cationic surfactant was occupied to investigate the
influence of cationic active groups on morphology of the products.
Due to its cationic head group, CTAB easily interact with free sulfur
groups on the surface of nanoparticles and covered them, with this
approach limited the formation of Ag2S and it will lead to reduction
of Ag2S to Ag.
Fig. 5b shows SEM image of the Ag sample prepared in presence
of CTAB. It can be clearly observed that CTAB has changed the
morphology The SEM image (Fig. 5c) shows that nanospheres are
also formed in presence of PEG 20,000 because this polymer
attaches to the particle surface through its active oxygen groups.
This interaction can be result to the reduction of silver ions. Due
to PEG 20,000 special structure, it covers Ag naoparticles in which
separate and small spherical nanoparticles form easily. Scheme 1.
shows probably the mechanism for the preparation of different
morphologies of Ag in different surfactants schematically.
SEM images of Ag2S nanoparticles that synthesized in H2O,
1-butanol, propylene glycol and ethylenediamine as solvent are
illustrated in Fig. 6(a–d), respectively. Results shows in H2O solvent
bulk products are obtained and in 1-butanol solvent nanostructure
products with size of lesser 100 nm are observed. We speculate
that polyols and alcohols with diverse position and number of
OH group play an important role in determining the geometric
structures and morphologies of the final products. Propylene glycol
has hydroxyl groups with more than 1-butanol and H2O, it can
SEM images of Ag2S obtained at different temperatures of
140 °C, 160 °C, 180 °C and 200 °C are illustrated in Fig. 4a–d
respectively. At temperatures of 140 °C with mole ratio Ag/sulfur
sources 1:2, mixture of spherical and cubic nanoparticles are
synthesized. With increasing temperature to 160 °C smaller spher-
ical nanoparticles are achieved. While at temperature of 180 °C and
200 °C, smaller nanoparticles with respect to the previous one are
noticeable. But particles are more disciplined in temperature
160 °C. The results confirm that in four different circumstances,
nanoparticles with average size of less than 100 nm were obtained.
For investigating the effect of surfactant on the morphology and
size of the products, the reaction carried out in presence common
surfactants such as anionic (sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)), cationic
(cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB)) and polymeric (PEG
Fig. 3. FT-IR spectra (a) the complex of Ag(NO3) with ligand synthesized and (b)
Fig. 2. EDAX spectra of Ag2S spherical nanoparticles.
Ag2S spherical nanoparticles.