Preparation and characterization of poly(amic acid)-stabilized silver nanoparticles

Stable and monodispersed silver nanoparticles were produced through a mild, convenient, one-pot method based on the reduction of silver nitrate in the presence of poly(amic acid) (PAA) as a stabilizer. The surface plasma band transition was monitored along with time in the reaction mixture for three sets of experiments by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Analysis of the data with the Avrami equation yielded n exponent with values between 0.5 and 1.5, demonstrating three-dimensional heterogeneous nucleation and diffusion-controlled growth, accompanied by soft impingement effect. XRD and TEM analyses show a softly agglomerated polycrystalline state and a nearly spherical morphology (