Influence of stabilizing agent and synthesis temperature on the optical properties of silver nanoparticles as active materials in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor

It has been successfully carried out the synthesis of colloidal silver nanoparticles by chemical reduction method. Silver nitrate (AgNO3) was used as metal precursors and trisodium citrate as the reducing agent. In the synthesis process, were varied the stabilizing agent of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and heating temperature. The formation of silver nanoparticles was observed visually with discoloration (yellowish). The formation and the structure of silver nanoparticles in colloidal solution were further examined through their optical properties by using a UV-Vis spectrometer. The wavelength absorption spectrum of colloidal silver nanoparticles shows that maximum surface plasmon absorption for the trisodium citrate-synthesized nanoparticles was at 429.43 nm for temperature of 90°C. The addition of the stabilizer sharpened spectrum curves and caused red shift in the maximum absorption peak of 429.01 nm and 427.09 nm for PVA and PVP respectively. Meanwhile, the addition of the synthesis temperature also sharpened the maximum surface plasmon absorption band and the red shift the maximum absorption peak of 428.79 nm and 428.58 nm for temperature of 110°C and 120°C respectively. Red shift of the maximum absorption peak indicates a smaller particle size. The maximum surface plasmon absorption band in the range of 427.09 nm to 429.43 nm indicates the presence of spherical or roughly spherical silver nanoparticles and TEM imaging confirmed this shape. TEM imaging results show that the diameter size of the silver nanoparticles range of 10 nm to 60 nm as well as the morphology (crystallites) of silver nanoparticles have spherical geometry with particle distribution which quite dispersive. The dispersibility of nanoparticles such as this could potentially be used as an active material of SPR biosensor.