Centrum pre Nanodiagnostiku Materiálov

Martin Škrátek, Mária Čaplovičová, Ľubomír Čaplovič, Patrícia Petrisková, Erik Šimon, Erik Rakovský, Peter Billik

In: Materials Letters. Vol. 348, (2023)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2023.134680

Abstract

Our work focuses on the preparation of nanocrystalline Ag₂O (n-Ag₂O) by mechanochemical decomposition (MCD) of a paramagnetic compound of an empirical formula Ag₇O₈NO₃. Electrochemically prepared millimetre-long needles of Ag₇O₈NO₃ were high-energy ball milled (HEM) for 1 min, 3 min and 5 min. A gradual decomposition of Ag₇O₈NO₃ to n-Ag₂O and AgNO₃ was observed. Ag₂O nanocrystals form in an aggregated and spherical morphology with crystallite sizes ranging from ∼10 – 30 nm. n-Ag₂O displayed weak ferromagnetism with the saturation magnetisation of 5×10^–3 emu/g. The MCD of Ag₇O₈NO₃ can be estimated as follows: 2Ag₇O₈NO₃ → 6Ag₂O + 2AgNO₃ + 5O_2.