A simple method for preparation of silver dendrites

Single crystal silver dendrites have been synthesized by heterogeneous reduction of AgNO3 in toluene solutions of a triblock copolymer (EO)(20)-(PO)-(70)-(EO)(20). The triblock copolymer stabilized system exhibits high stability, which makes sample handling and analysis simple. By this method. the concentration of Ag in the colloidal system can be as high as 8.5 g/L. TEM, XRD, IR, and UV-vis measurements are used to characterize the resulting hybrid systems. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.