TAILORING PARTICLE-SIZE AND MORPHOLOGY OF COLLOIDAL AG PARTICLES VIA CHEMICAL PRECIPITATION FOR AG-BSCCO COMPOSITES

The chemical precipitation of silver particles is an effective method for tailoring the particle size and morphology. This article investiga tes a chemical precipitation method for producing silver colloids, and how processing parameters affected particle size, morphology and adhe rence. Decreasing the silver nitrate concentration during precipitatio n with sodium borohydride decreased the colloidal silver particle size . Decreasing the addition rate of the reducing agent produced faceted particles. Reversing the reactant addition order also changed the part icle size and the morphology. Precipitated colloids demonstrated a dif ference between the growth-dominated and the equilibrium structures. G o-dispersing Bi-based superconducting platelets during precipitation a llowed Ag colloids to preferentially nucleate on the platelets and to remain adhered even after the additional processing.