Publication Date
2007
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Gregory Kozlowski (Advisor)
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Abstract
Synthesis of silver nanostructures has been an active research area for many decades because of their importance in biological sensing, imaging, electronics, optoelectronics and catalysis. In particular, much effort has been devoted to the controlled synthesis of silver nanowires because of their potential use as interconnects or active components in fabricating nanoscale devices. The solution phase method is used here to form Ag nanoparticles by reducing silver nitrate with ethylene glycol heated to 160°C. The additional presence of polyvinyl pyrrolidone plays a role of stabilizer to prevent an agglomeration and/or a capping agent to produce highly anisotropic nanowires. Silver nanoparticles are extracted from the highly viscous ethylene glycol through centrifugation, filtration, decanting and dilution in de-ionized water. The monodispersed silver nanomaterials are self-assembled into ordered arrays on a glass substrate by the drop-coating method. SEM and AFM micrographs are presented to characterize the microstructure of these nanomaterials and their arrays. Their physical characterizations are discussed by using evanescent microwave microscopy. In particular, values of resonant frequencies and Q-factors of silver nanoparticle arrays measured by evanescent microwave microscope are used to fit to theoretical model allowing calculation their relative local conductivities.
Page Count
127
Department or Program
Department of Physics
Year Degree Awarded
2007
Copyright
Copyright 2007, all rights reserved. This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.
