Elemental silver nano-sized crystals: various geometric forms and their specific growth parameters

Abstract The data have been systematized and generalized on the specific synthesis of elemental silver nano-sized crystals (Ag-NC) having the forms of various geometric bodies (pseudo spherical, prismatic, cubic, trigonal-pyramidal, etc.), obtained by various chemical, physicochemical and biological methods. It has been noted, that the form of the synthesized Ag-NC can be controlled by changing the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters at each key stage of the synthesis (nucleation, seeding, and growth). Moreover, the size range of spherical and cubic silver nanocrystals can be influenced by either physical, chemical or biological methods during the synthesis, but such forms as nanorods, nanowires and nanobars can only be synthesized by chemical or physical methods at the present time. The review covers articles comprehensively mainly published in the last 20 years.