Abstract

The synthesis of Ag, Cu and Ag-Cu nanoparticles with divalent disulfur ligand by the Brust method were obtained. The metals were reduced by sodium borohydride and stabilized with 2,2'-dithioethanol (Ll), N,N'-dithiophtalimide (L2) and triphenylmethanesulfenamide (L3). The nanoparticles were characterized by TEM, EDX, electron diffraction and FTIR. The stability of the colloids at room temperature was also measured. We can observe a high stability for the colloids dispersion with L3 ligand (>1 week by AgCu-L3, Ag-L3 and Cu-L3). We found TEM studies show a size distribution between 9.7 and 15.8 nm, depending on the ligand. Electron diffraction analysis for the metallic nanoparticles shows the presence of Ag2S, Ag, CuO and bimetallic compounds such as CuAgS. The active solids were obtained by solvent evaporation from the nanoparticles dispersed to 50 °C. The FT-IR exhibit the presence of the ligand incorporated in the solid. © 2009 Sociedad Chilena de Química.