Production of silver nano-powders by electron beam evaporation

Abstract Evaporation of metallic silver was performed in Ar, N 2 and He using the ELV-6 electron accelerator. The obtained ultra-dispersed powders with a particle size of 70–80 nm were investigated by XRD, HREM and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The structure of Ag(Ar) powder was shown to differ substantially from that of Ag(N 2 ) by the presence of small oxide-like species of 10–20 nm on the particle surface. Catalytic activity of the powders in the reaction of ethylene epoxidation was also studied.