1. Juan D Pulgarin
Lab 121. Engineered Nano materials.
William Paterson University
Wayne, NJ, 07470
Abstract.
We will be presenting a Standardized method for the synthesis of Silica nanoparticles in
the size of a few hundred nanometers as well as for Silver nanoparticles. A good portion
of this project was spent in determining how factors such as temperature, time and
reactant to reducing agent ratio played a role in the nucleation and growth of these
nanoparticles. Currently we are working on determining how to synthesize different size
nanoparticles, Silica microspheres in the size range of 1-2 microns and Silver
nanoparticles with diameter 1-5nm both in a monodispersed colloidal solution. The
tailoring of these nanoparticles depends exclusively on the reaction mechanism. The
approach is to first revise and second re adjusts the reaction time and reducing agent
-reactant molarities. We will also be presenting a successful Silica surface modification
mechanism by decorating Silica Nano spheres with metals, using our previously made
Silver nanoparticles and the analysis of the binding process using UV-Vis as well as
TEM in order to observe the morphology of the metal decorated Si sphere. Ultimately,
the goal is to analyze how the functionalization of the Silica sphere can have an impact
on light diffraction and absorbance as a function of its diameter without modifying the
size of the decorative the metal functionalities.