The study of silver nanoparticles by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and scanning tunnelling microscopy

The authors present results of studies on commercially available silver nanoparticles fabricated by Amepox Microelectronics and delivered in the form of silver powder. The studies were carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Chemical analysis performed with the use of EDX revealed that the powder contains about 74% of silver. Further studies of the silver granulate by use of SEM explicitly indicated the presence of micromete-size conglomerates composed of much smaller particles. Silver powder was dissolved in n-hexane, and colloid solution was obtained, in which the particles were subjected to the process of segregation. The colloid, obtained with this method, in which one expected to find particles of smaller sizes, was deposited on the Au(111) surface. The results of the studies of the sample prepared by means of STM enabled us to estimate the distribution of silver nanoparticles size, which appeared to be normal with a relatively small standard deviation.