Synthesis of Silver Nanowires and Other Metal Nanostructures in Dialkylimidazolium Ionic Liquid

Room temperature ionic liquids have attracted much research attention for the preparation of nanoparticles owing to their nonvolatile nature, thermally stable properties and inflammability. In this contribution, we have made an effort to fabricate the late transition metal — Ru, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ag, and Au — nanostructures by thermal decomposition of the corresponding organometallic precursors in the presence of various surfactants in ionic liquid [Omim][PF6]. Silver nanowires can be specifically generated by heating the mixture of (hfac)Ag(PMe3) and 1-hexadecylamine with the mole ratio of 1:10 in [Omim][PF6] at 140 °C for 3 h. Characterization of these metal nanostructures were carried out by transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray powder diffraction analysis.