Abstract
Polymer-coated nanoparticles improve the stability of materials against aggregation and enhance the physical properties, thus making it possible to use different applications in vast fields of science. In this work, silver nanoparticles were synthesized by a chemical reduction method and were further coated with the polymers polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polystyrene (PS). The influence of the polymer coating on the optical and electrical properties of the silver nanoparticles were investigated and compared with that of as-prepared silver nanoparticles. The nature of the prepared silver nanoparticles in the face-centered cubic structure is confirmed by peaks in the x-ray diffraction pattern. The temperature dependence of resistivity of the silver nanoparticles exhibit semiconducting behavior in the temperature range 100-300 K.