Facile In-Situ Preparation of Poly(Acrylic Acid)-Silver Nanocomposite Thin Films with Highly Dispersed Silver Nanoparticles

Abstract

Here we present a facile and simple in-situ method for the preparation of poly(acrylic acid)-silver nanocomposite thin films with highly dispersed silver nanoparticles. From the various available methods to reduce Ag⁺ silver ions, the chemical method was chosen to generate silver nanoparticles in a poly(acrylic acid) matrix. The reducing reagent used in this study was the primary diamine, polyoxypropylenediamine, which reduced the silver ions and simultaneously hardened the poly(acrylic acid) via a cross-linking reaction. TEM images showed that the silver nanoparticles were well dispersed in the poly(acrylic acid) matrix condensed with polyoxypropylenediamine.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a grant from the Fundamental R&D Program for Core Technology of Materials funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Republic of Korea. It was also partially supported by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) internal project.