Synthesis of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)/silver nanoprism composites through simultaneous photoinduced polymerization and electron transfer processes

An investigation into the in situ preparation of polymer/silver nanoprism composites is described. Photoinitiated polymerizations of N-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP) in water using 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl propanone as photoinitiator under nitrogen and simultaneous redox reactions of AgNO₃ resulted in the formation of poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PNVP)/silver nanocomposites. Prolonged irradiations at low photoinitiator concentration and equimolar concentrations of AgNO₃ and NVP produced only spherical silver nanoparticles. The nanocomposites produced at high silver and photoiniatiator concentrations with short irradiation times e.g. 5 min contain polygonal (mainly triangular) silver nanoprisms as evidenced by spectral and TEM analysis.