Seedless, Surfactantless Wet Chemical Synthesis of Silver Nanowires

We report a method to make crystalline silver nanowires in water, in the absence of a surfactant or polymer to direct nanoparticle growth, and without externally added seed crystallites. The reaction is one in which silver salt is reduced to silver metal, at 100 °C, by sodium citrate, in the presence of NaOH. Hydroxide ion concentration is key to producing nanowires, which are up to 12 microns long, instead of nanospheres.