Size Control of Ag3PO4 Nanoparticles Using Monoethanolamine and Oleylamine Chelating Agents

In the present investigation, a systematic study on the dependence of chelating agents on the size control of silver phosphate Ag3PO4 powders is presented. The effect of two different capping-ligands (monoethanolamine (MEA) and oleylamine (OLA) as amino-additives) is studied using sol-gel route. Structural and morphological characterization techniques were used to quantify the particles size and molecular bonding. Results show that oleylamine as a chelating agent is more efficient in controlling the size of the as-synthesized nanoparticles, especially in low concentration of Ag+ precursor related to its long alkyl-chain preventing nuclei assemblage. This argument is confirmed by energy interaction calculation between Ag+ cations and oleylamine molecules using Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Finally, this investigation clearly demonstrates that the ratio between amino-additives (MEA and OLA) and Ag+ is the key-parameter that controls the crystalline growth of Ag3PO4 particles thus leading to nanometric size.