A facile approach to synthesize silver nanorods capped with sodium tripolyphosphate

Silver nanorods have been successfully synthesized via a facile route using sodium tripolyphosphate (Na₅P₃O₁₀) as the capping agent. Silver nitrate and glucose served as the Ag⁺ source and green reducing agent in aqueous solution, respectively. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The results showed that the obtained silver nanorods are highly crystallized with an average diameter of 30 nm and lengths up to 400 nm. The linear structure of the capping agent and slow reaction rate are considered to be key factors in the control of particle morphology. The possible formation mechanism has been discussed based on the experimental results.