Production of colloidal silver

Author:
Andreas Staudinger

Abstract:
This article describes a test run on producing colloidal silver by electrochemistry and UV as a reducing
agent.

Introduction:
600 ml of distilled water was filled in a beaker.

Two .999 silver rods were placed in the beaker to penetrate the surface of the water.

A DC current of 100µA was set to the electrodes and adjusted from time to time back to 100µA, as
the conductivity of the solution increases over time.

A UV source with a wavelength of 420nm was pointed at the beaker.

The test run was kept for 3 entire days.

After the 3 days, the liquid was filtered 3 times trough coffee filters and bottled.
Suspected electrochemical reactions:

Step 1: CO2 in the air gets in contact with the distilled water and forms H+ and HCO3- ions.

Step 2: The H+ ions travel to the cathode and get reduced to gaseous H2. The HCO3- ion travels to
the anode, where it pulls one silver Atom out of the rod and forms silver bicarbonate with it
(CHAgO3). The silver bicarbonate of cause immediately disassociates to Ag+ and HCO3.

Step 3: The Ag+ travels slowly from the anode to the cathode. If the Ag+ is hit by energetic UV
photons, it will be reduced to a very small silver nano particle. The shorter the UV wavelength, the
smaller the resulting cluster gets. The Ag+ which is not hit by energetic UV photons will go to the
cathode and form silver crystals. The HCO3- of the silver bicarbonate will pull new silver atoms from
the anode.
Results
After 3 days there were quite a lot of silver crystals on the cathode.
The bottom of the beaker had been covered with a thin layer of black mud.

On the right side in this image are the silver crystals, which had been formed on the cathode.

Filtration (3 times)
After the 3 filtrations the liquid is still not 100% transparent and has a slight greyish hue. A red laser
pointed trough the beaker shows a strong beam, which indicates the presence of silver nano
particles.
For microscopic examination on one slide a test from the silver crystals were put and on the other
slide the filtered water was put.

Both slides were put on a heater and heated up to 75°C to evaporate the water.

X100 – silver crystals

X400 – silver crystals:

X100 – silver crystals:

X100 – silver crystals:

X100 – colloidal silver residue:

X400 – colloidal silver residue:

It seems the silver nano particles did not clump back to bigger metallic clusters due to the
evaporation, instead the nano particles seemed to have formed a kind of transparent yellow gee.

There are no traces of any silver crystals in the filtered solution.

The microscopic examination was done with a BRESSER research trino.

Methods:
The idea and methods of producing colloidal silver by UV reduction was taken from this scientific
journal: https://www.omicsonline.org/colloidal-nano-silverits-production-method-properties-
standards-and-its-bioefficacy-as-an-inorganic-antibiotic-2161-0398.1000130.pdf

Discussion:

a) The final product looks not full transparent; instead it looks a little opaque. If there are just
nano particles inside, shouldn’t the liquid be fully transparent or transparent with a color but
not opaque?

b) I guess a stronger source of UV would prevent the formation of so much silver crystals.

c) Why are there two fractions of residue; the silver crystals on the cathode and the black mud
on the bottom of the beaker? As the electrodes are .999 the black mud should theoretically
be also silver and not impurities that settle out…

References:

https://www.omicsonline.org/colloidal-nano-silverits-production-method-properties-standards-and-
its-bioefficacy-as-an-inorganic-antibiotic-2161-0398.1000130.pdf