Process for making silver nanostructures and copolymer useful in such process

Abstract

A process for making silver nanostructures, which includes the step of reacting at least one polyol and at least one silver compound that is capable of producing silver metal when reduced, in the presence of: (a) a source of chloride or bromide ions, and (b) at least one copolymer that comprises: (i) one or more first constitutional repeating units that each independently comprise at least one pendant saturated or unsaturated, five-, six-, or seven-membered, acylamino- or diacylamino-containing heterocylic ring moiety per constitutional repeating unit, and (ii) one or more second constitutional repeating units, each of which independently differs from the one or more first nonionic constitutional repeating units, and has a molecular weight of greater than or equal to about 500 grams per mole, is described herein.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A process for making silver nanostructures, comprising reacting at least one polyol and at least one silver compound that is capable of producing silver metal when reduced, in the presence of:
 (a) a source of chloride or bromide ions, and   (b) at least one copolymer that comprises:
 (i) one or more first constitutional repeating units that each independently comprise at least one pendant saturated or unsaturated, five-, six-, or seven-membered, acylamino- or diacylamino-containing heterocylic ring moiety per first constitutional repeating unit, and 
 (ii) one or more second constitutional repeating units, each of which independently differs from the one or more first constitutional repeating units, 
 and has a molecular weight of greater than or equal to about 500 grams per mole. 
   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the first constitutional repeating units of the copolymer each independently comprise a pyrrolidonyl moiety or a pyrrolidinedionyl moiety and the second constitutional repeating units of the copolymer each independently comprise a cationic moiety. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 2 , wherein, wherein the copolymer is a random copolymer made by free radical polymerization of vinyl pyrrolidone, vinyl caprolactam, or vinyl pyrrolidone and vinyl caprolactam with one or more ethylenically unsaturated cationic monomers. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more ethylenically unsaturated cationic monomers are selected from dimethylaminomethyl (meth)acrylate, dimethylaminopropyl (meth)acrylate, di(t-butyl)aminoethyl (meth)acrylate, dimethylaminomethyl (meth)acrylamide, dimethylaminoethyl (meth)acrylamide, dimethylaminopropyl (meth)acrylamide, vinylamine, vinyl imidazole, vinylpyridine, vinylpyrrolidine, vinylpyrroline, vinylpyrazolidine, vinylpyrazoline, vinylpiperidine, vinylpiperazine, vinylpyridine, vinylpyrazine, vinylpyrimadine, vinylpyridazine, trimethylammonium ethyl (meth)acrylate salts, dimethylammonium ethyl (meth)acrylate salts, dimethylbenzylammonium (meth)acrylate salts, benzoylbenzyl dimethylammonium ethyl(meth) acrylate salts, trimethyl ammonium ethyl (meth)acrylamido salts, trimethyl ammonium propyl (meth)acrylamido salts, vinylbenzyl trimethyl ammonium salts, and diallyldimethyl ammonium salts. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 4 , wherein the copolymer is a random copolymer made by free radical polymerization of a monomer mixture comprising from about 80 to less than 100 parts by weight of vinyl pyrrolidone and from greater than 0 to about 20 parts by weigh of a diallyldimethylammonium salt. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one silver compound comprises silver nitrate, the at least one polyol comprises ethylene glycol, the total amount of silver nitrate added to the reaction mixture is from 1.5×10 −2  mole to about 1 mole silver nitrate per Liter of reaction mixture, and the reaction is conducted in the presence of, based on the weight of the reaction mixture, from about 0.1 wt % to about 20 wt % of the copolymer. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one polyol has a pH of from about 1 to about 14. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one polyol has a pH of from about 5 to about 12. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one polyol has a pH of from about 7 to about 10. 
     
     
         10 . A process for making silver nanostructures, comprising reacting at least one polyol and at least one silver compound that is capable of producing silver metal when reduced, in the presence of:
 (a) a source of chloride or bromide ions, and   (b) at least one copolymer that comprises:
 (i) one or more first constitutional repeating units that each independently comprise at least one pendant saturated or unsaturated, five-, six-, or seven-membered, acylamino- or diacylamino-containing heterocylic ring moiety per first constitutional repeating unit, and 
 (ii) one or more second constitutional repeating units, each of which independently differs from the one or more first constitutional repeating units, and has a molecular weight of greater than or equal to about 500 grams per mole; and 
   (c) at least one base.   
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one base comprises sodium hydroxide, lithium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, or mixtures thereof.