Study on the technological conditions of nanoscale silver palmitate

In order to supply high quality silver source to photothermographic materials based on silver carboxylate, silver plamitate was prepared by chemical deposition method using palmitic acid, sodium hydroxide, silver nitrate as raw materials and PVP as surfactant. The effects of experimental conditions such as reaction system, reaction temperature, reactant concentration and amount of PVP were investigated. The morphology and dispersed properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The crystal structure and thermal properties of silver palmitate were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetry(TG). A set of suitable operating parameters (concentration of palmitic acid of 0.05mol/L, reaction temperature of 75°C, PVP of 0.05g and prepared in water-alcohol system) for the preparation of silver palmitate were recommended. Under these optimum conditions, well-dispersed silver palmitate with well-defined layer structure was obtained. The diameter of fiber-like silver palmitate is about 150nm. DSC curves demonstrate that silver palmitate has multiple phase transitions.