Aqueous diaminsilver hydroxide as a precursor of pure silver nanoparticles for SERS probing of living erythrocytes

A new effective and simple preparation method of pure metallic hydrosols consisting of silver nanoparticles is proposed using aqueous diaminsilver hydroxide as a precursor freed of special reducing agents, surfactants, or anionic pollutants. The process is driven by NH3 ligand loss and silver complex dissociation followed by silver ion reduction with hydroxyl ions or ammonia itself present in the solution. Self-reduction of aqueous diaminsilver hydroxide occurs for 20–60 min at 90–100 °C in water and results in a wide range of silver nanoparticles, with their sizes dependent on silver complex concentration and reaction time. The pure silver hydrosol is found to attach to a cell membrane without its damage thus allowing measurements of SERS spectra of submembrane hemoglobin inside living erythrocytes.