Silver nanoparticles prepared by gamma irradiation across metal-organic framework templates

Li He, Ludovic F. Dumée, Dan Liu, Leonora Velleman, Fenghua She, Connie Banos, Justin B. Davies, Lingxue Kong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

59 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study, we demonstrate for the first time the successful fabrication of well-dispersed ultrafine silver nanoparticles inside metal-organic frameworks through a single step gamma irradiation at room temperature. HKUST-1 crystals are soaked in silver nitrate aqueous solution and irradiated with a Cobalt 60 source across a range of irradiation doses to synthesize highly uniformly distributed silver nano-particles. The average size of the silver nanoparticles across the Ag@HKUST-1 materials is found to vary between 1.4 and 3 nm for dose exposures between 1 and 200 kGy, respectively. The Ag@HKUST-1 hybrid crystals exhibit strong surface plasmon resonance and are highly durable and efficient catalytic materials for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol (up to 14.46 × 10-3 s-1 for 1 kGy Ag@HKUST-1). The crystals can be easily recycled for at least five successive cycles of reaction with a conversion efficiency higher than 99.9%. The gamma irradiation is demonstrated to be an effective and environmental friendly process for the synthesis of nano-particles across confined metal-organic frameworks at room temperature with potential applications in environmental science.

Original languageBritish English
Pages (from-to)10707-10715
Number of pages9
JournalRSC Advances
Volume5
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Silver nanoparticles prepared by gamma irradiation across metal-organic framework templates'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this