The Effect of Different Synthesis with Chemical and Biological Methods on Properties of Silver Oxide Nanoparticles

Silver oxide (Ag2O) nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized through several methods, namely sol-gel, sonochemical, and biological methods. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the sonochemical method produces silver oxide with high phase purity, then the sol-gel method produces another phase, namely silver crystals, while the biological method produces Ag3PO4 phase from the precursor media. The research showed that the sol-gel method had the smallest crystallite and particle sizes of 9.5 and 232.7 nm, respectively, compared to sonochemical and biological methods. It is known that the specific surface area of the sol-gel method has the largest value, namely 60.09 m2/g, compared to the sonochemical and biosynthetic methods, which are 51.78 and 24.77 m2/g, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy study showed homogeneous spherical nanoparticles of silver oxide in the sol-gel and sonochemical methods, however, the biological method resulted in the formation of non-spherical silver oxide nanoparticles in the form like flakes. HIGHLIGHTS Synthesis of silver oxide by chemical method produces pure silver oxide crystals, smaller crystallite size, larger specific area, and more homogeneous particle size than biological methods The sol-gel method for the synthesis of silver oxide produces the smallest particle size than the sonochemical and biological methods The sonochemical method produces the highest crystallinity and size homogeneity compared to the sol-gel and biological methods GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT