title: Microwave synthesis of branched silver nanowires and their use as fillers for high thermal conductivity polymer composites.
abstract: We report a rapid synthesis approach to obtain branched Ag nanowires by microwave-stimulated polyvinylpyrrolidone-directed polyol-reduction of silver nitrate. Microwave exposure results in micrometer-long nanowires passivated with polyvinylpyrrolidone. Cooling the reaction mixture by interrupting microwave exposure promotes nanocrystal nucleation at low-surfactant coverage sites. The nascent nuclei grow into nanowire branches upon further microwave exposure. Dispersions of low fractions of the branched nanowires in polydimethylsiloxane yield up to 60% higher thermal conductivity than that obtained using unbranched nanowire fillers. Our findings should be useful for realizing nanocomposites with tailored thermal transport properties for applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA. Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
authors.forename: Indira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Seshadri
authors.forename: Gibran L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Esquenazi
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cardinal
authors.forename: Theodorian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Borca-Tasciuc
authors.forename: Ganpati
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ramanath