Nanocrystalline silver particulate films by liquid-liquid interface reaction technique (LLIRT)

A process to deposit nanocrystalline silver particulate film by adjusting t he physical/chemical parameters at liquid-liquid interface was developed. T he film was transferred on a suitable substrate by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) t echnique. The film was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (T EM), electron diffraction (ED) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). TEM revea led that the as-prepared film consists of partly aggregated spherical silve r particles and their sizes were in the range 5-20 nm. ED shows a spot patt ern, characteristic of partly aggregated material with very small crystalli te size. The optical absorption of vergin and annealed films is studied. Th e effect of annealing is attributed to Ostwald ripening of some particles a nd simultaneous breaking of aggregates to smaller particles. (C) 2001 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.