Controlled synthesis of colloidal silver nanoparticles in organic solutions: empirical rules for nucleation engineering

Controlled synthesis of colloidal nanoparticles in organic solutions is among the most intensely studied topics in nanoscience because of the intrinsic advantages in terms of high yield and high uniformity in comparison with aqueous synthesis. However, systematic studies on the formation mechanism of nanoparticles with precisely tailored physical parameters are barely reported. In this tutorial review, we take the synthesis of different Ag nanoparticles as an example to rule out the general principles for controlling the nucleation process involved in the formation of colloidal Ag nanoparticles in organic solutions, which enables the synthesis of high-quality nanoparticles.