Self-assembly of silver particle monolayers on glass from Ag+ solutions inDMF

The spontaneous reduction of Ag+ ions in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) (in th e absence of a protecting agent) leads to the homogeneous deposition of sil ver nanoparticles on clean glass surfaces in contact with the solution. The process of reduction and deposition can be performed at room temperature a nd in the dark, but the use of visible or UV radiation affects the reaction rate and the morphology of the deposited films. The deposition conditions can be tuned so that a homogeneous monolayer of silver nanoparticles is dep osited on the whole surface. (C) 2000 Academic Press.