The significance of silver nanostructures has been growing considerably, thanks to their ubiquitous presence in numerous applications, including but not limited to renewable energy, electronics, biosensors, wastewater treatment, medicine, and clinical equipment. The properties of silver nanostructures, such as size, size distribution, and morphology, are strongly dependent on synthesis process conditions such as the process type, equipment type, reagent type, precursor concentration, temperature, process duration, and pH. Physical and chemical methods have been among the most common methods to synthesize silver nanostructures; however, they possess substantial disadvantages and short-comings, especially compared to green synthesis methods. On the contrary, the number of green synthesis techniques has been increasing during the last decade and they have emerged as alternative routes towards facile and effective synthesis of silver nanostructures with different morphologies. In this review, we have initially outlined the most common and popular chemical and physical methodologies and reviewed their advantages and disadvantages. Green synthesis methodologies are then discussed in detail and their advantages over chemical and physical methods have been noted. Recent studies are then reviewed in detail and the effects of essential reaction parameters, such as temperature, pH, precursor, and reagent concentration, on silver nanostructure size and morphology are discussed. Also, green synthesis techniques used for the synthesis of one-dimensional (1D) silver nanostructures have been reviewed, and the potential of alternative green reagents for their synthesis has been discussed. Furthermore, current challenges regarding the green synthesis of 1D silver nanostructures and future direction are outlined. To sum up, we aim to show the real potential of green nanotechnology towards the synthesis of silver nanostructures with various morphologies (especially 1D ones) and the possibility of altering current techniques towards more environmentally friendly, more energy-efficient, less hazardous, simpler, and cheaper procedures.

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) have a broad range of applications including nanoelectronics, energy conversion, health care, solar cells, touch screens, sensors and biosensors, wearable electronics, and drug delivery systems. As their characteristics depend strongly on their size and morphology, it is essential to find the optimal and most cost-effective synthesis method with precise control over the size and morphology of the wires. Various methods for AgNW synthesis have been reported along with process optimization and novel techniques to increase the yield and aspect ratios of synthesized AgNWs. The most promising processes for synthesis of AgNWs are wet chemical techniques, in which the polyol process is low cost and simple and provides high yield compared to other chemical methods. Reaction mechanism is one of the most important factors in strategies to control the process. Our purpose here is to provide an overview on the main findings regarding synthesis, preparation, and characterization of AgNWs. Recent efforts in the polyol synthesis of AgNWs are summarized with respect to product morphology and size, reaction conditions, and characterization techniques. The effect of essential factors such as reagent concentration and preparation, temperature, and reaction atmosphere that control the size, morphology, and yield of synthesized AgNWs is reviewed. Moreover, a review on the novel modified polyol process and reactor design such as continuous millifluidic and flow reactors to increase the yield of synthesized AgNWs on large scales is provided. The most recent proposed growth mechanisms and kinetics behind the polyol process are addressed. Finally, comparatively few available studies in green and sustainable development of 1D silver nanostructures through the application of natural products with inherent growth termination, stabilization, and capping characteristics are reviewed to provide an avenue to natural synthesis pathways to AgNWs. Future directions in both chemical and green synthesis approaches of AgNWs are addressed.

The purposes of this work are scaled-up synthesis of silver nanowires (AgNWs), assessment of their growth mechanism and measurement of the rheological properties of nanowire suspensions suitable for screen printing conductive circuits. A polyol synthesis process was used. The morphology and microstructure at various stages of the process were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Aqueous silver nanowire inks with dispersant and binder were formulated. The rheological behavior of the inks was characterized by Stress Sweep Step (SSS), Steady State Flow Step (SSFS), Frequency Sweep Step (FSS) and Peak Hold Step (PHS) with a parallel plate rheometer. Rheological measurements under conditions that mimic the screen printing process have been done on the conductive inks through the PHS test to assess viscoelastic properties induced by flow alignment of the wires. Finally, the effect of silver nanowires on the rheological behavior of the ink has been compared with the effect of silver three-dimensional (3D) nanoparticles (AgNPs). Since most of the available commercial silver inks suitable for screen printing process are non-aqueous solvent based, a contribution of this study is formulation of an environmentally benign water based nanowire ink.

An environmentally friendly technique has been developed to produce metal nanoparticles using green synthesis methods. In this study, silver nanostructures were synthesized using different sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners as green reducing agents in an aqueous solution at low temperature. The main ingredients (such as maltodextrin, sucrose, saccharin, and sucralose) of the artificial sweeteners acting as reducing agents were used to reduce Ag⁺ ions to Ag⁰. The pH of the solution was controlled during synthesis through the addition of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to increase the strength of the reducing agents by converting nonreducing sugars to reducing ones and consequently increasing the rate of silver nanoparticle formation. The size and morphology of the synthesized nanostructures were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The formation of nanostructures during the course of the reactions was investigated by UV-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy characterization of an aliquot of sample at specific intervals. The function of each artificial sweetener and corresponding ingredients as a reducing agent and capping agent was investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and mass spectrometry (MS).