Endo - 30-10-2014 at 14:05
I stumbled upon this yesterday and found the result to be both interesting and pretty. They grow a base colloid of silver spheres and then treat them
to a narrow wavelength of light. The nano spheres change shape and become 'nano prisms'. Their size and thus reflective characteristic reflective
and absorptive spectrum is specific to the wavelength the starting material was treated with.
Silver Nano-prism synthesis
I got to wondering how a colored light would affect the crystalline shape and growth. I found this interesting web class that explains the
interaction at around 3:00.
Nanoparticle synthesis class
The one reagent that would be hard to get for the home chemist... Bis(p-sulfonatophenyl) phenylphosphine dihydrate. I am not entirely sure of its
function in the reaction. Does anyone out there know?
I may be interested in trying out other less aggressive and cheaper reducing agents. Dextrose? Sulfite?
quantumcorespacealchemyst - 5-2-2015 at 06:01
hydrazine, hydrazine sulphate?
Dan Vizine - 6-2-2015 at 17:36
I haven't read the articles yet but it sounds like it may be a templating agent, to help in self-assembly of the atoms. It's behavior may be affected
by the activation energy which comes from the light characteristicly absorbed by conjugated systems of carbons. Just a guess.