Induced synthesis and characterisation of Ag and Ag₂S assembly nanoparticle chains

A facile and efficient template method was developed for the fabrication of Ag and Ag2S nanoparticle chains. The morphologies and structures of products were characterised by X-ray powder diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The result shows that the length of Ag and Ag2S nanoparticle chains are up to several micrometres. Systematic studies exhibit that the concentration of template (polyacrylamide) reagent, reaction solution and ageing time are important factors on the control synthesis of nanoparticle chains. The possible mechanism for the formation of Ag and Ag2S nanoparticle chains was also discussed. The physical and chemical properties of the Ag and Ag2S nanoparticle chains were investigated and their phytotoxicities were also researched for the first time. The phytotoxic result shows that the Ag and Ag2S nanoparticle chains have obvious inhibition of seed germination.