4.2. TEM analyzing of AgNP
The TEM images taken of silver nanocolloid sample after
14 days of the initial experiment and after 90 days clearly show that the silver nanoparticles in aqueous medium were in the nanometer range (see Fig. 4), and the synthe- sized silver nanocolloid was very stable in aqueous medium for a very long period. The shapes of the silver nano particles can be identified as spherical, hexagonal, triangular and arbitrary forms.
4.3. Particle size analyzing data
As shown in Fig. 5(a), the results obtained from the NANOPOX (NX0064) particle size analyzer, 50% of the particles were below 22.81 nm, whereas in graph (b) 50% of particles were below 29.09 nm. 90% of particles in graph (a) were below 24.23 nm, whereas 90% of graph(b) particles were below 34.89. It is understood that the particle sizes of the resultant silver nanocolloid do not change significantly even after 90 days from the initial synthesis. The narrow peak in the density distribution curve (Fig. 6(a)) obtained from the NANOPOX (NX0064) has broadened and shifted to the right side of the graph after 90 days of the initial synthesis (Fig. 6(b)). This indicated that the SNP becomes agglomerated with time, resulting in larger sizes of nano- particles with the size distribution of SNP in the nano- colloid varying with time.
4.4. Morphology of NRLF
Fig. 7 shows the SEM image of the resultant natural rubber latex foam at 50 K magnification. It can be seen that