UV-VIS and TEM assessment of morphological features of silver nanoparticles from phosphate glass matrices

UV–VIS spectroscopy is applied to study the structural and especially morphological particularities of silver nanoclusters-phosphate glass composites from the dispersed phase perspective. The electronic absorption measurements performed on several types of phosphate glasses with different Ag2O content indicate the existence of both silver nanoparticles of various dimensions and shapes, and Ag ions, inside the glass matrix, depending on the silver oxide content. The correlation of the UV-VIS spectral results with those derived from the TEM images analysis provides further insights into the silver nanoclusters morphology. By using the experimental UV–VIS data and a theoretical approach important structural and morphological parameters, such as the radius of the silver nanospheres and the volume fraction of the spheres are determined for one of the investigated composites. The obtained radius value is in good agreement with that found from the TEM measurements.