Enhanced Control of Single Crystalline Ag Dendritic Growth on Al Foil via Galvanic Displacement and Simultaneous Oxidation of D-Glucose

Author(s)

Lidija D. Rafailović, Stefan M. Noisternig, Jana Bischoff, Christian Rentenberger, Daniel Bautista – Anguis, Huaping Sheng, Christoph Gammer, Jia Min Chin, Adam Elbataioui, Huanqing Zhang, Jürgen Eckert, Tomislav Lj Trišović

Abstract

A facile synthesis platform for the formation of stable single crystalline Ag dendrites is demonstrated. Using a porous electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofiber network on Al foil as a template facilitates more uniform dendritic growth in the presence of D-glucose. In contrast, a denser polymer network restricts the nucleation site availability on the Al foil, highlighting the critical role of the substrate. The growth formation of silver dendrites is reduced in the solution when two simultaneous processes occur: The electroreduction of Ag⁺ in the D-glucose solution and galvanic displacement driven by the interaction of Ag⁺ with the aluminum substrate. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis shows the single crystalline nature of Ag dendrites grown from the Al substrate, revealing atomic structures with closely packed layers forming highly faulted face-centered cubic and hexagonal close-packed structures. The remarkable long-term stability of Ag dendrites is primarily attributed to their single crystalline structure, with additional contributions from capping by D-gluconic acid, as confirmed by Raman analysis. This novel approach to the generation of highly stable Ag dendrites has significant potential for applications such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering, which has to date been considered to be very sensitive to environmental effects.

Organisation(s)

Dynamics of Condensed Systems, Physics of Nanostructured Materials, Department of Functional Materials and Catalysis

External organisation(s)

Montanuniversität Leoben, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Journal

Small Science

ISSN

2688-4046

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1002/smsc.202400478

Publication date

2025

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

103018 Materials physics, 104011 Materials chemistry, 104008 Catalysis

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Catalysis, Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous), Materials Science (miscellaneous)

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/e4ad690a-5394-4bed-8736-5a450a84f218