A facile and efficient aqueous phase-based strategy to synthesize carbon
nanotube (CNT)/silver nanocrystal nanohybrids at room temperature is
reported. In the presence of carboxyl group functionalized or poly(acrylic
acid)- (PAA-) grafted CNTs, silver nanoparticles were in situ generated from
AgNO3
aqueous solution, without any additional reducing agent or irradiation treatment, and
readily attached to the CNT convex surfaces, leading to the CNT/Ag nanohybrids. The
produced silver nanoparticles were determined to be face-centred cubic silver nanocrystals
by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), electron diffraction (ED) and x-ray
powder diffraction (XRD) analyses. Detailed experiments showed that this strategy can
also be applied to different CNTs, including single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs),
double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs), multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), and
polymer-functionalized CNTs. The nanoparticle sizes can be controlled from 2 nm to
10–20 nm and the amount of metal deposited on CNT surfaces can be as high as 82 wt%.
Furthermore, large-scale (10 g or more) CNT/Ag nanohybrids can be prepared via this
approach without the decrease of efficiency and quality. This approach can also be
extended to prepare Au single crystals by CNTs. The facile, efficient and large-scale
availability of the nanohybrids makes their tremendous potential realizable and
developable.